Singled Out
by Lentex
Summary: A satire on Lola hate and Lincoln torture.
1. A House, a Home

"It's finished!"

"Finally!"

"Mom and Dad are gonna love it!"

After a long month and a half, the loud siblings have finally created a miniature replica of their home. Each loud child helped out with the project in their own way. Just to name a few contributions, Lincoln built the exterior of the house using materials he bought from the local model store, Luna recorded the song that played when the model home's door was opened, and Leni designed the outfits that the miniature characters representing the loud family wore.

The children would present the gift to their parents the following morning in celebration of their 20th anniversary. It would be their biggest anniversary present yet, as they've planned far in advance this year.

The third-youngest loud child started to complain. "I'm tiiiiired! Can I get my beauty sleep already?" Lori answered her little sister's request. "Sure Lola, we should all head on up to bed. We've been working on this project for literally three hours today". The loud children put the model house on the floor, pushed it under a table, covered it up with a sheet, and started up the basement, their hard work would finally pay off.

Or, so they thought.

* * *

After waiting two hours to ensure the rest of the family was asleep, Lincoln Loud slowly cracked his door open to take a peek at the hallway. After making sure it was empty, the 11 year old grabbed his flashlight, walkie talkie, and a string of LED lights. He tiptoed out of his room, and went down the main staircase, careful to be as quiet as possible. One sound, and his entire plan would be ruined. Once he was in the living room, Lincoln opened up the door leading to the basement stairs. The room was pitch black. _Good thing I brought this._ Lincoln flipped on his flashlight, and proceeded down the staircase. While the white haired boy was usually terrified of the dark, he knew that he needed to get over his fears in order to accomplish his goal. Now at the bottom of the stairs, Lincoln turned on his walkie talkie.

"Clyde, are you there buddy?". After a brief pause, his best friend answered. "Roger!" Lincoln smiled. He knew he could count on his buddy. "Phase one of operation secretly make the model house one hundred times better to impress my sisters in the morning and also think of a shorter name for this operation is a success".

"You're in the basement?"

"Affirmative!"

"And you brought the lights?"

"Correct".

"Lincoln, remind me why you needed me to stay up late for this?"

"For moral support, Clyde. Now keep it down, I don't want to wake anyone up".

Lincoln has been wanting to add a string of lights that spelled out "Happy Anniversary!" to the base of the model house ever since the Loud children came of with the idea for the gift. But, because he thought it was such a good idea, Lincoln wanted to do it without his sisters knowing. If the lights were put on as a surprise, they would be even more impressed with his handiwork.

 _Time to do this!_

Adding the lights would be quick to do, all Lincoln needed to do was pick up the house and put it on top of the table so he could glue on the LED string that he already had prepared. He knew that he still needed to work fast, since his parents would be arriving home soon. Not only that, but if one of his sisters went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, they might be able to hear him as well. The less time he spent working, the less likely it was for him to get caught.

He carefully removed the sheet from over the top of the model, and wrapped his arms around it so that he would be able to hoist it on the table. The boy grunted as he picked the object up. "This… is a bit heavier… than I thought…" Lincoln was not the strongest person in the family, for multiple reasons. He didn't play any sports, he rarely went outside, and he never worked out. He didn't let his weakness bother him, though. His favorite activities didn't require any amount of exercise, so why go out of the way to get all sweaty or smelly? That's what he thought, at least. In a few moments, however, Lincoln would be regretting his inactive lifestyle.

Unable to hold up the heavy object any longer, Lincoln felt his grip on the model house slip away. _No no no no no!_ Before he knew it, he lost his hold on the project that he and his sisters had worked so hard on. It hit the ground, shattering into dozens of fragments and shards, making a loud _BANG!_ in the process.

Lincoln stood dumbfounded and stared at what was now an unrecognizable mess of broken modeling plastic, cardboard, and wood.

"Lincoln? Come in, Lincoln?"

"Clyde, I have to go! Talk to you later!"

Lincoln quickly said goodbye to his friend and turned off his walkie talkie. What should he do? His parents anniversary was THE NEXT MORNING! _My sisters are going to kill me for this!_ As if on cue, Lincoln heard footsteps from upstairs. "What was that sound? It's literally almost midnight". Based on the voice, Lincoln could tell that Lori had definitely heard the sound of the model house hitting the ground. The white haired boy could do nothing but look at the floor in shame and wait for the inevitable. Lori soon after walked down the basement, followed by the rest of the siblings who she had gathered to investigate the sound. Each loud child gasped at the rubble in front of Lincoln's feet. Shock quickly turned to anger. Lincoln could tell that his sisters were enraged at him. He's seen them mad before, but their expressions showed anger on a brand new level.

Lori was the first to lash out at her brother. "Lincoln, why did you break the house?! We literally spent over a month on that!" Lincoln tried as best as he could to explain himself. "Guys, I was trying to make it better! Really!" Lola stepped forward, clearly furious with her brother. "You tried making it better by _dropping it on the ground?!_ "

"I was g- going to put on some lights on it, but-"

Lola took another step forward.

"Then why did you wait until the _middle of the night_ to do it?!"

"I just wanted to surprise you guys! Really, I never meant to break the house!"

Lincoln's story didn't seem to calm down his sisters. In fact, it seemed to make things worse. They took a step forward, ready to pummel him.

"Guys, l- let me explain myself!".

Lynn, being the athletic girl and reckless girl that she was, didn't want to wait for Lincoln to try and defend himself any further. The jock started to charge at her younger brother. Afraid of the pain about to come his way, Lincoln quickly put his arms up in an attempt to defend himself. He closed his eyes, and prepared for the worst.

Much to his surprise, Lincoln felt nothing. The boy opened his eyes, and thankfully for him, he saw Lola holding Lynn back from her bull charge. "Keep it together, woman!"

"Lola, he broke our house! Do you know how long we spent on that?!"

"I know, and I'm just as mad as you! But listen, Lynn! Beating him up right now won't solve anything."

"Then what are we gonna do, Lola? Give him a warning?!"

"No. I have a better idea." A sinister smile spread across the beauty queen's face. "I call an emergency _sister_ meeting!"

Lincoln was dumbfounded. Had he really just escaped a rage filled Lynn beating? He thought about what Lola said. A _sister_ meeting. Being the only brother in the family, he was obviously not invited. Where they going to vote on whether to forgive him or not? Where they going to discuss how to punish him?

Lori brought Lincoln's train of thought to a halt. "Alright girls, let's head upstairs. Lola better make this worth our time". Lola released Lynn, who had by now stopped resisting. Every girl with the exception of the athlete started up the basement stairs. Lynn stared Lincoln in the eyes, with a bitter expression on her face. She was clearly still heated about the broken house. After making her anger clear, she started after the other sisters.

Lincoln stood in the basement alone, wondering what horrors awaited him.

* * *

Lori hit her shoe on the desk. _Bang, bang._ "I hereby declare our sister meeting to be in session!." Lynn was the first to speak up. "Lola, we're all mad at Lincoln. You better have a good reason for letting him skip out the one versus nine beatdown he deserves". Lola smiled. "Lynn, if we senselessly beat him up right there and then, that would be it. His punishment would have been painful, but quick". Lynn nodded. Lola had a point, after all. "We need to punish him in a different way. He ruined two and a half _months_ of work, people!". Luna interjected. "That's great and all, but what can we really do other than rough him up? Once again, a sinister smile formed on Lola's face. "We can declare full on war against Lincoln". Still angry at their brother, the Loud sisters agreed mutually that this was a good idea. "But what exactly do we do to the little twerp?", questioned Lori. Lola had not thought this far. "We need ideas. Brainstorm, people!"

"We can force him into a dutch oven whenever we get the chance!" said Lynn.

"We can clog the toilet whenever he's after to use it!" added Lana.

"Orrrrr", started Lisa, "We can do all of that and more. Our male sibling hates an abundant amount of our annoying habits. Why not increase our output of these habits and direct them solely at Lincoln?"

Luan couldn't resist making a pun. "That's a _painfully_ good idea! … Get it?" Silence filled the room. "As bad as that joke was," started Lana, "Lisa has a really good idea. Luna, play music as loud as you can while Lincoln tries to do his homework. Lynn, be as rough as possible with Lincoln. I can rig the shower to be scolding hot before he uses it. Think of all the possibilities!"

"I can move my bat colony into Lincoln's room while he's watching TV!"

"I can make Lincoln test some of my most explosive experiments!"

"I can hide my smelly clothes in his room after a big game!"

"There's also lots of things we can do together to annoy him." started Lori, bringing the conversation back. "We can all take as long as possible in the bathroom when we know Lincoln needs to use it". Lori expressed her approval of the new plan. "This is probably your best idea ever, Lola!" The pageant queen smiled. "Don't thank me, guys. We all came up with this marvelous plan!"

"So, like, when are we starting? Literally first thing in the morning, right?"

Luna butted in. "Let's not start yet, dudes. We should stay peaceful tomorrow for Mom and Dad. It's the least we can do on their anniversary if we don't even have a present for them. Besides, it's better if Lincoln gets comfortable before we start messing with him bigtime." The sisters nodded in agreement. Lori stood up, ready to end the meeting. "Is everyone in favor of a full on war with Lincoln starting in two days?" After she heard eight different "Aye!"'s, Lori once again hit the shoe on the desk. _Bang, bang_. "Meeting concluded!"

* * *

Lincoln paced back and forth down the bedroom hallway. What were they planning to do to him? Beads of sweat emerged on his forehead. His sisters have been in Lori's room for over half an hour by now. At long last, Lori's bedroom door opened. Lincoln saw that his sisters were… smiling? Each sibling walked back to their bedroom, closing their door behind them. Lori poked her head out of her doorway. "Goodnight, Lincoln". She flashed him a smile, and closed her door.

Lincoln now had a fragment of hope. Did they agree to forgive him? Of course, he knew it was wishful thinking, but given the circumstances, it could have been the case. His sisters had _never_ before went from being angry enough to turn him into a human pretzel to total calmness. Something wasn't right.

Although he was very confused, Lincoln knew was that all he could do for now was to remain uninformed and get some sleep.

* * *

When Lincoln woke up, things were surprisingly normal. He opened his door slowly, half expecting his sisters to be waiting on the other side ready to ambush him. All he saw in the hallway was Luna practicing her electric guitar, Lana chasing down one of her reptilian pets, and Lily walking down the hall (without a diaper, of course). It was just like any other day. He walked downstairs and poured himself a bowl of cereal. Some of his sisters were already there before him eating their breakfast too. Lincoln was astonished. Had his sisters forgotten about last night? _This is strange, but I shouldn't let my guard down._

The day carried on as normal. Nevertheless, Lincoln was extra careful. He peeked around corners before moving on, he opened doors slowly just in case there was a trap waiting for him, and he did his best to steer clear of his sisters.

Later that night, when it came time for the celebration of the Lynn Sr. and Rita's anniversary, the children gathered around in the kitchen. It was tradition for the Loud children to cook for their parents on special days like their anniversary and their birthdays. The last time all of the Loud kids tried cooking together, the meal turned out to be a godawful mix of different foods that didn't mix together very well at all. So, this time around, Lori directed the cooking rather than simply allowing everyone make their own part of the meal. In the end, it turned out surprisingly well. The kids had cooked a meal of dinner pancakes, chilled fruit, and popcorn chicken.

The Loud family sat down to eat. Usually, this would be the time that the kids would present their gift to their parents. Lori, being the oldest, broke the bad news. "We're sorry we don't have a present for you today, but Lincoln literally broke it last night". Each sister all turned to face Lincoln, who gave a nervous laugh in return. "I'm really sorry Mom and Dad, but I tried to add something to the gift last night, and well… it kind of slipped out of my hands and broke". Lincoln slumped in his chair and looked at the ground in shame. Luna spoke up. "But don't worry dudes, we're going to work hard to fix it. We're sorry that we can't give it to you on your anniversary, but taking the time to patch it up is better than nothing I guess". Lynn Sr. and Rita nodded. "It's still thoughtful of you kids to think of us. Take your time fixing up whatever it was that you made for us".

After dinner, Lincoln went on up to his room to think. Did his sisters already cool down from last night? Was he home free? Lincoln doubted it, but then again, they've done nothing the entire day to him. Usually when his sisters were angry with him, they'd pummel him on the spot. It was especially strange since Lincoln ruining the model house was one of the biggest things that he's done to anger his sisters.

Something wasn't right.

* * *

 **Annnnd, that's it! I hope you enjoyed my first chapter of my first fanfiction. So far the story has been mostly set up, but things will really start to pick up next chapter. Criticism and feedback are greatly appreciated. Since this is my first story, I'm sure there's lots I can improve on. Chapter two should be hopefully ready by the end of this weekend. Stay tuned!**


	2. Blitzkrieg

"Clyde, they're driving me crazy".

Lincoln's best friend nodded. _He's clearly upset with his sisters_ , he jotted down on his notepad.

"What exactly have they done to you, Lincoln?"

Lincoln cringed while laying down in Clyde's psychiatrist couch, remembering the horrible events from that morning.

"Oh, all sorts of things. It started this morning. I had just woke up, and Luna started playing her guitar as loud as possible right outside my door. It was so powerful, I was flung to the back of my room. I tried walking to my door so I could open it and ask her to turn it off, but as soon as I got up, I noticed that my entire floor was covered in balls. Soccer balls, baseballs, golf balls, you name it. They were _everywhere_ , Clyde."

The junior psychiatrist nodded. "And how did that make you feel?".

"Horrible, Clyde! I landed right on my back, and it _still_ hurts. I bet it's gonna be sore for another week or two. Lynn must have snuck in while I was sleeping and dumped her collection on my floor".

"I may be able to get some Tylenol to help with your back. Also, how did Lynn even get in your room? I thought you said you put a padlock on your door that night?".

"I did, Clyde. Someone must have messed with the lock. Actually, now that I think about it, Leni has picked locks before. It must have been her".

"Interesting. What happened next?".

"Well, then, I tried crawling over to the door to try and open it. As soon as I pulled on the doorknob, it came right off. I know that's not unusual in our old house, but my door handle was just replaced a _week_ ago! Someone obviously tampered with it.

Clyde frowned. "Lana, I'm guessing. How did you get out of your room?".

"It wasn't easy, Clyde. Luna had set up her speakers directly in front of my door, so I wasn't even able to kick down the door if I wanted to".

"How did you get out of your room?".

"It wasn't easy, but I tied up all of my bed sheets in a rope and attached one end to my bed post. I stuck the other end out of my window, and then tried to squeeze myself outside while holding on to the rope. I was honestly terrified getting out the window, but I knew that it needed to be done. If I wasn't ready for school on time, I'd have missed our ancient Egyptian test, and I can't afford another bad grade in history. I overcame my fears by making sure to not look down".

Clyde nodded. _When Lincoln said his sisters were giving him a harder time than usual, I thought he was exaggerating. Now, it seems like he was sugar coating it._ "Lincoln, did you make it to the ground safely?".

"Of course not. When I was halfway down the rope, I looked up and saw Luan cutting it with her ventriloquist dummy's teeth. Before I could get to the ground, the top of the bed sheet rope had been cut, and I fell down".

"Ouch. That must have hurt, right?".

"Actually, no. If my parents saw me with scratches and bruises from that high of a fall, they'd definitely have punished my sisters. Instead, I landed in Lola's princess car. As soon as I fell on it, she drove in front of a puddle of mud and made a sudden stop. The force of the stop sent me flying off of the back of the car and into the mud!".

"Remind me never to make your sisters angry. All of this happened because you broke a model house?".

"Yeah, we worked on that house for about two and a half months. Breaking it made my sisters more angry at me than they've ever been before. I just hope they cool down soon…"

 _Lincoln obviously wants this mess to end soon_ , thought Clyde. _Will he resort to fighting back?_

"Lincoln, what did you do after being dumped in the mud?"

"I knew it was pointless to go back inside and try to get clean clothes. My sisters probably had traps set up in every square inch of the house. So, I ran over to the back of the house and washed myself down with the garden hose. I was soaking wet, but I figured I would air dry before I got to school, and it was better than being covered in mud. I sprinted off of our property, desperate to get away from the house as fast as I could".

"And that's when you met up with me, right?".

Lincoln nodded.

"So that's why you were so wet. And smelly. And missing your backpack".

Lincoln nodded again. "Yeah, I was so focused on getting away from my house, I forgot breakfast, brushing my teeth, and my backpack with all of my Egyptian notes!" The boy signed. "There's no way I would have been able to get it from the living room". Clyde frowned. "It figures. The one open note quiz we have all year, and it's the only day you don't have your notes".

Lincoln got up from the couch, stretching his arms and legs. "Clyde, do you mind if I stay here tonight? I want to wait awhile before I go back home, for obvious reasons". Lincoln's friend smiled. "Sure, Lincoln! You're always welcome in the McBride abode. Let me go grab the spare-"

Clyde's hospitality was cut off by the doorbell. "I'll get it!" He started for the front door. Lincoln pondered who could have been visiting. It wasn't Clyde's parents, they were out at least until sundown. Could it be one of his sisters?

Clyde opened the door. Lucy was standing on the front porch. "Hello, Clyde".

"Uhm, hi Lucy. How can I help you?" Speaking in her usual monotone voice, Lucy made her demands clear. "Lincoln needs to come home, now. If he stays here for any longer, I won't have any problems casting a curse on you". To this, Clyde simply chuckled and ruffled Lucy's hair. "That's cute and all, but me and Lincoln have stuff to do. Bye, now". Just as Clyde started to close the door, Lucy grabbed it, forcing it to remain open. "If you don't believe me, Clyde, have a look for yourself." Lucy pointed at a nearby bush, uttered an unintelligible spell, and cast her arm out. Before Clyde knew it, the bush was on fire. The nerd stood dumbfounded.

"Wha- how did you-?!"

Lucy smiled. "Now, will you reconsider?" Clyde crossed his arms. "If you think a threat will stop me from protecting my best friend, you are very wrong. Now, I'd appreciate it if you left the property and-" Before Clyde could finish his sentence, he was caught off guard. Lori, his biggest and only crush, was walking down his sidewalk. She turned and waved to him. "Hiiiiii, Clyyyyyyde!". Clyde's nose started to stream blood, and he fell backward, rendered unconscious.

Lincoln (who had been constructing a makeshift bunker with cushions from around the McBride house ever since the front door opened) poked his head out. He'd heard someone hit the ground. Wearing a pasta strainer as a helmet, a trash can lid as a shield, and a hockey stick as a weapon, he slowly crept over to the front door to see what had happened.

He saw Clyde unconscious on the floor, with Lucy standing in front of him. "What did you do to Clyde?!" "I didn't do anything to him. It was her". Lucy pointed to the sidewalk, where Lincoln saw his eldest sister. "Hey, twerp!" she yelled. "Mom and Dad said that you need to come home! They got a phone call from Mrs. Johnson about your history test today!". Lincoln gulped.

Although he knew that Clyde couldn't hear him, Lincoln wished farewell to his friend. "Bye, Clyde. It might be awhile before I can talk to you again".

And with that, Lincoln started his slow, sad trek home.

* * *

Lucy, Lori, and Lisa gathered around the sidewalk in front of the McBride house. They gave each other a high five, and had a good laugh. Lisa adjusted her glasses. "Clyde fell for the fictitious remote controlled burning bush that I made just this morning. What a neanderthal". "Yeah", said Lori, "But what really knocked him out were my stunning looks!". All 3 Loud siblings exchanged a laughed again. "See what we can do when we work together, guys?"

Lori and Lisa started their way back home, eagerly awaiting to tell their sisters how well their Lincoln extraction plan went. "Lue Lue, you coming?". Lucy stood in place, looking at the ground. "Don't call me that. I'll catch up with you guys in a second". Lori shrugged and continued her walk with Lisa. "Such an unpredictable creature" commented the junior scientist, as she strolled off with her sister.

Lucy looked up, and stared at the McBride house. It will soon be time.

* * *

Lincoln took a deep breath as he put his hand on the front doorknob. He opened the door, and quickly sidestepped, fearing something or someone was waiting for him on the other side. Something _was_ waiting on the other side, but it was not a trap set up by his sisters as Lincoln expected. It was his parents. "Come to the kitchen with us, Lincoln". As he went inside, and slowly walked behind his parents, he spotted his remaining sisters in the living room. Lily was playing with Lola and Lana, who were buildings some sort of castle with wooden blocks. Lynn was throwing a tennis ball high in the air, and catching it when it came back down to her. Luan was practicing her ventriloquism with her trusty sidekick, Mr. Coconuts. Luna was strumming away on her banjo, an instrument she was learning. Finally, Leni was hard at work on constructing what appeared to be a wooden nightstand.

Lincoln knew that his sisters must have been waiting for him. When they did their activities, they were usually upstairs. When his sisters caught sight of him, every one of them stopped what they were doing, and stared Lincoln in the eyes. It was almost as if they were trying to tell him something. To this, Lincoln simply looked away.

Once in the kitchen, Lynn Sr. motioned for Lincoln to sit. Uh-oh. The three took their seats around the kitchen table. "Lincoln…" started Rita. "What happened at school today?" Lincoln looked up. "About the test?". "Yes, Lincoln. You told us that you studied hard for it. What happened?". Lincoln knew that he _did_ study hard for the test. He worked in class to take the best notes that he could, and he read over them every night leading up to the test. But… none of that mattered. It was his _sisters_. _They_ were the reason he failed. _Now that I think about it, they probably_ _knew_ _that my test was today. They made sure I wasn't able to get my notes. No wonder Luna blocked the door._ Lincoln was now angry, and ready to express his frustration. It was time for him to tell his parents what his siblings did to him that morning. "Mom, Dad," he began. "The reason I failed my test was-" Wait a minute. Was it going to be this easy? Just tell his parents what his sisters did, and they would be forced to stop harassing him? There was something more going on here. They had Lisa on their team, there's no way she would overlook this, right?

Just like that, it hit Lincoln. _That's_ why his sisters stared him down in the living room. It was a signal. They had basically said, "if you tell on us, we'll make sure you regret it". Lincoln knew if he ratted them out right here and now, they would be punished and forced to stop attacking him for the near future. However, they would still be able to hurt him in ways that couldn't be traced back to them. They could leak embarrassing secrets to his classmates. They could hog the TV at times they knew his shows were on. They could upload embarrassing videos of Lincoln anonymously. The possibilities were endless. The reason they didn't do any of these things yet was now clear; they wanted to save those methods so that they could be used as a threat. That way, they'd be able to openly attack Lincoln without fear of him being able to snitch on them. As long as they didn't leave any marks or bruises, they'd have the green light to mess with him all they wanted.

This was warfare, and it had just become clear to Lincoln.

"Lincoln? Well?" Lincoln froze. What would he tell his parents? "Well, Lincoln? Why did you fail the test?". Lincoln sighed. He would have to lie, making himself look worse than he actually was. It hurt to do so, but Lincoln knew it needed to be done, or he'd face bigger consequences from his sisters. He looked down at the table in shame. "Mom, Dad… I didn't study like I told you I did. I never took notes, I just assumed the test would be easy. But, I messed up. Obviously, I bombed the test, and now my history grade is going to be really hurt because of it." Lincoln looked up. His parents looked back at him, clearly disappointed. "I'm glad you're being honest, son, but you should have told us the truth sooner. I'm going to have to ground you for two weeks, okay?". Lincoln nodded. "Alright, then. Head on up to your room".

Lincoln sat up from his chair. His back was still sore from this morning. He never was able to get any Tylenol from Clyde. He brought himself to the living room. He saw his sisters smiling. All six knew that they had just won the first battle. Their plan had worked, and they knew it. The boy grabbed his backpack. He started the walk up to his room, prepared to spend the next two weeks there, only leaving to eat and do chores. Once he was upstairs, Lincoln locked the door behind him. His room appeared to be back to normal. He figured that his sisters cleared it up, just in case his parents saw the mess that they made and questioned why Lynn's sports balls were in Lincoln's room.

Lincoln took out his history textbook from his backpack. Sure, he had failed his test and studying was pointless now, but that's not why he was reading about the past events of the world. The boy knew that he was now in the midst of a war. Lincoln flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. He'd use his grounding to his advantage. Now that he had time alone, he would have to begin reading about past wars and conflicts. He'd learn everything he needed to know in order to beat his sisters; tactics, strategies, and methods of fighting the enemy. Sure, the odds were 10 to 1, but he wasn't going to give up just yet. He'd fight back, and fight back hard. If not to win, then for the sake of honor. One thing was for certain;

Lincoln was ready to go to battle.

* * *

 **Inspired by the surprising success of chapter one, I was able to work hard to get this one out far ahead of schedule. I think I did a pretty good job this time, but please let me know if you disagree. I tried to give each sister a fair amount of their time in the spotlight, but the sisters who had minor roles in this chapter will get a bigger part next time. Not only that, but more characters (such as Ronnie Anne) will be coming into the story soon. The next chapter should be done sometime this weekend, if not earlier. As always, feedback and criticism is greatly appreciated. I'm very new to writing fanfictions, so there's going to be lots of room for improvement.**


	3. A Stab in the Back

"Eggs again, Lincoln?"

The boy nodded. His sisters lined up, ready for breakfast. As the line moved forward, Lincoln gave each sister an egg, prepared a different way each time. "Hard boiled for Lori, egg white for Leni, sunny side up for Luna, 'funny' side up for Luan, scrambled for Lynn, extra well done for Lucy, deviled eggs for the twins, fried for Lisa, and extra gooey for Lily!". Just then, Lynn Sr. walked into the kitchen.

"Dad, want some breakfast?".

The Loud family patriarch glanced down, looking at the egg sizzling in the frying pan. "No thanks Lincoln, I only really have time to grab a bagel and get going. I have a pretty big meeting today". With that, Lynn Sr. ruffled Lincoln's hair, and started for the door. "Bye, kids!"

Lincoln added to the chorus of ten different "Bye, Dad!"s.

It had been two weeks and one day since Lincoln had been grounded for failing his test. In that time, he had been given many chores to do, one of them being to prepare breakfast for the family. Although today marked the first day he was officially ungrounded, Lincoln still wanted to cook breakfast as a force of habit. Besides, the boy didn't mind cooking eggs for his sisters; he'd done it in the past, when he tried to make sure they left for school on time the day he had his class presentation. Lincoln smiled, recalling that day. No matter how hard he tried to get the model he had made of his family to school on time and in one piece, it had been run over by vanzilla. His sisters felt bad for him, so they decided to all help him out and act as a life size visual in place of his broken model. Back then, when his siblings weren't at war with him, they'd always be willing to support him when he needed it. Things were different, now.

 _I wish this war would just end. If things go well today, maybe my sisters will surrender and it will. I can at least hope, right?_ Lincoln had been preparing for this day ever since the night his sisters had forced him to lie to his parents about his test. Today would mark the first time in the war he fought back.

* * *

 _Two Weeks Earlier_

"Sir Clyde is here to save you, my fair princess!" The knight lifted up his sword, and pointed it at the two headed dragon that held on tightly to his maiden. "You better hurry! This dragon is literally ruining my dress!" Clyde gave his horse a kick, causing it to begin a swift charge towards the beast. Sir Clyde stood up on his horse, who was still charging directly at the dragon. "Off with your head, foul creature!" Now inches away from the dragon, the knight jumped high in the air, with a tight grip on his sword. Clyde slashed his sword with all his might, cutting off both dragon heads. He fell back down on his horse. The dragon, now dead, released it's captive. The princess started to scream as she fell down to the earth.

"I'll catch you!" Clyde quickly turned his horse around, and rode to the spot where the damsel in distress would soon hit the ground. Just in the nick of time, Clyde reached out and grabbed the fair Princess Lori.

"You saved me, Clyde!" the princess lifted off the knight's helmet. She leaned in for a kiss. "Clyde…" she whispered. "Clyde… Clyde… _CLYDE!_ "

Alarmed by the sudden loud noise, Clyde opened his eyes and sat up at lightning speed. "Wh- what?" In front of him, the nerd saw Lucy, kneeling down next to him. "Oh, hi Lucy. Thanks for waking me up. Where's Lincoln?" The 8 year old goth pointed down the McBride's front sidewalk. Clyde saw the white hair of his best friend over the horizon, fading away in the distance as Lincoln walked back to his house.

"I should go talk to him" Clyde stated, standing up.

"Wait" interjected Lucy. "Listen, Clyde. As you probably already know, Lincoln failed his test today, and he's going to be grounded. He won't be able to speak with you for awhile after he gets home".

Clyde nodded. "I suspected that. That's why I want to go talk with him". He began to walk to the sidewalk.

Lucy grabbed him. "Hold on, Clyde. I have an offer that even a loyal friend like you can't refuse".

Clyde turned around. "Are you going to ask me to betray Lincoln? There's not much that can make me do that".

Lucy smiled. This was rare for her to do, and Clyde knew this. What was she going to offer him?

* * *

 _Two Weeks Later_

Lincoln sat on the living room couch, reading the newest ace savvy comic. Lily slept peacefully in her crib in front of Lincoln. The rest of the Loud family had just left moments ago to Aunt Ruth's house. Lincoln volunteered to babysit Lily while his family went to Ruth's, and his parents accepted, knowing how well he had done the last time he was asked to watch the baby.

While reading, Lincoln thought about the war. To his surprise, his sisters had not tried to do anything to him while he was grounded to his room. Even if they did, Lincoln had made preparations. Under his bed, the boy stored a hockey mask, bubble wrap, and a makeshift shield. He only assumed their inactivity was because they were planning something big. Lincoln knew that he needed to strike soon, before his sisters attacked _him_. After two weeks of thinking, Lincoln had come up with a plan to fight his sisters _back_ for what they did to him on the day of his test.

 _Ding dong_.

Lincoln walked downstairs and opened the front door. As he suspected, Clyde was on the other side. Lincoln's nerdy but loyal friend had been carefully waiting outside the Loud residence in the bushes, waiting for Lincoln's sisters and parents to leave.

"Hey, buddy".

"Hi, Clyde. Ready?"

"You bet!"

The two boys got to work. Later that day, Lincoln would finally have his revenge.

* * *

The screech that only vanzilla could make was heard loud and clear by Lincoln. He smiled. Moments later, the front door open, and the entire loud family with the exception of Lincoln and Lily filed into the house. Lincoln's father went in the kitchen to prepare dinner, while Lincoln's sisters went upstairs. Shortly after, the regular sounds of the Loud House could be heard. Someone was playing the electric guitar, someone was working with explosive chemicals, someone was chasing one of their siblings; all normal sounds in Lincoln's household.

Rita walked over to the couch, where Lincoln and Clyde were reading a story to Lily. "Looks like you did a good job babysitting, Lincoln".

"It was easy, Mom! Lily slept most of the time, and Clyde helped me cook her a lunch".

"Good to hear! I'm going to take Lily to her checkup, okay?".

Lincoln nodded. He'd known about the checkup weeks in advance. The boy knew he would only be able to act if both of his parents were away from the house. Lincoln smiled as he watched his mother leave the house.

Minutes later, a loud cry could be heard from the kitchen. "Where's all the chocolate?!". Lincoln's sisters rushed to the kitchen from downstairs. If they could hear their father's yell over all of the noise, then it meant he must have been upset. Lincoln followed them into the kitchen. Clyde stayed in the living room, not wanting to get involved with the drama.

Lynn Sr. turned to face his children. "Is anyone going to admit to eating the chocolate?"

The kitchen was dead silent.

The family patriarch sighed and crossed his arms. "I told you kids to stay away from the chocolate so I could make short rib chili tonight. You guys _know_ it just doesn't taste right without it!" Lynn Sr. sighed again, clearly still upset about his missing ingredients. "I'm going to the store so I get some more. I don't care _who_ ate all of it, but you all have been guilty of this in the past. For the rest of the day, none of you are allowed to go out. If _any_ of you leave the property, I'll ground you to your room for a week. Is that understood?"

The Loud children had mixed reactions.

"But Dad!", started Lori. "I was going to the movies with Bobby!"

Leni didn't seem to mind the punishment, as she remained silent.

Luna, however, felt differently. "This is totally unfair, dude. Lori was going to drive me to the Parkway Drive concert after her date!"

Like Leni, Luan was not somber about being unable to leave the house for the rest of the night. In fact, she used the situation to make a pun. "I guess you'll have to hang out with your _homies_ here instead! Get it?"

"I was going to go on my nightly jog!" cried Lynn, hitting the wall in anger. "How else am I supposed to exercise when I don't have another practice until tomorrow?!"

Lincoln appeared to be affected negatively by his father's announcement. "I was going over to Clyde's tonight! Want am I supposed to do now?

Lucy and the twins seemed to be neutral to the travel ban for that night. Not everyone had plans to go out, after all.

Lisa _did_ have plans, however. "I was supposed to teach at the community college. I suppose I'll have to postpone my lecture on Formicidae Vespoide".

After listening to five complaints at once, the Loud patriarch had to stand firm on his punishment. "No matter who it was, all of you need to learn from this. I _specifically_ told you all to leave our chocolate alone so I could use it for dinner. Now, enough complaining. I don't want to hear it!"

"But daaaaaaad!"

"Enough!"

Unable to do anything about their punishment, the Loud children walked out of the kitchen, defeated.

 _Perfect! He's actually leaving to get more!_ Lincoln and Clyde had eaten all of the chocolate so that Lynn Sr. would need to leave to get more. Sure, it gave them stomach aches, but Lincoln needed the house free of his parents to move on with the next phase of his plan. He'd also made sure to act just as upset as his sisters so they'd be less likely to suspect him. It was time to get revenge.

"Let's go, Clyde". Lincoln and his friend got up, and started walking to the basement. Once downstairs, the two boys thoroughly searched around for any of Lincoln's sisters. It was possible that they were being followed. In fact, Lincoln bet any money that his siblings had an attack ready for him, and were about to use it now that their parents where gone. It's been two weeks since their last attack, so it was definitely possible. He made sure to search fast so that he would be able to attack them before they attacked him.

Once Lincoln and Clyde were positive the room was clear, they made their way over to the corner of the basement, where they moved a heavy shelf sideways. Once they did this, they lifted up a bed sheet, revealing a cage underneath.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Clyde.

Lincoln nodded. "I spent a lot of money ordering these guys. We need to go through with the plan."

The white haired boy opened the cage. Immediately after, Lincoln and Clyde bolted up the basement stairs, and out the front door. Once outside, the boys hid behind the Loud family garage. Like clockwork, screams could soon be heard from inside the house. " _SKUNKS_!"

* * *

Inside the loud residence, things seemed to be normal. In the living room, Lori was on the couch texting Bobby. She was still upset about having to miss her date. Lynn sat next to her, watching the playoffs on the television. Luan was practicing a juggling routine using muffins. The rest of the Loud siblings were upstairs.

Luan was ready to take her routine to the next level. While still juggling the muffins she already had, the comedian tried to add another one to the mix. Although it was a hard task, Luan was doing quite well. That is, until, her younger brother and his friend bolted from the basement, and ran outside. Lincoln brushed Luan as he ran by, causing her to drop all of her muffins. Before she could yell at him, Lincoln was already out the door. " _Lincollllln_!" she yelled in anger, despite the fact that her brother couldn't hear her. Luan bent over, preparing to clean up her mess. Before she could wipe up the first muffin, however, she hear a scream from Leni.

" _SKUNKS!_ " At first, the Loud sisters ignored Leni. They figured she must have mistaken something such as one of Lucy's bats or one of Lana's pets for a skunk. Before they knew it, however, skunks actually _were_ coming up the basement stairs. Before they could run, the sisters near the living room couch where sprayed.

Panicking, Lori, Lynn, Luan, and Lori scattered and ran around the downstairs of the Loud residence.

"Up here!" came the voice of Lisa, the child genius.

The four Loud sisters that were downstairs started to bolt up the stairs. The skunks followed close behind. Looking up, they noticed that their fellow sisters had already started building a barricade at the top of the staircase. Just as they made up past the final step, Lana quickly jumped in and finished the barricade, made out of wood, tape, and nails.

"Now what?! There are literally _skunks_ downstairs!" cried Lori.

"We need to run away from the house!" suggested Lynn.

"No!" interjected Luna. "What if someone from school sees us, dudes? We smell like rotting trash!"

"Yeah!" said Luan, "that would really _decay_ our reputations!". The comedian laughed at her own joke. "Get it?!"

The rest of the Loud sisters groaned.

Lisa spoke up. "Our eldest sibling has a point. It would be unfortunate for us to be seen in public in our current state. Besides, our parental unit _did_ tell us not to leave the property."

"I'm going to _kill_ whoever did this!", screamed Lola. "How am I supposed to go to my pageant tomorrow smelling like this?!"

"I think it's obvious who did this, dudes" said Luna, grinding her teeth. "The only sibling who's not here with us right now".

Leni looked confused. "Why would Lily attack us with kunks?"

"No, Leni, it was _Lincoln_. Remember how he ran out of the house just a few seconds before the skunks rank up from downstairs? He must have been the one to release them!"

There was a sudden chorus of "Oh yeah!"s and "Ooooh!"s.

"When I get my hands on him…" said Lola, churning her hands.

The child genius spoke up. "We can get revenge on our male sibling later, Lola. For now, we need to focus on how to get rid away from these skunks. There's no telling how long our makeshift barricade will last. Any ideas?"

Lana jumped up and down. "I know, I know! We can use your bunker thingy that you made for April Fools day!"

Lisa smiled. "Lana, I underestimated your intellect".

Lana's face lit up. "Great! Let's get to work rounding up those critters so we can throw them in the bomb shelter! It's gonna be like the rodeo all over again!"

Lisa's smile faded. "Wouldn't it be easier for us to just hide in the shelter ourselves?"

Lana put her finger up to her chin, thinking about it. "Oh, yeah".

"It appears I have _over_ estimated you".

"Enough chit chat!" cut in Lynn. "Let's run out the front door and hop down into the bunker!"

"Lynn, we need a better plan than that" said Lucy. "We'll get sprayed even more if we just run through the skunks. We need to come up with a strategy to-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Lucy was cut off with the sound of cracking wood. _C-C-CRACK!_ The girl's makeshift barrier was broken down by the skunks.

"RUN!"

The sisters ran downstairs as fast as they could. Most of them were sprayed in the process.

"Ewww!"

Once out the front door, all 10 girls made a sharp left turn. The skunks were running behind them, still agitated and ready to spray even more. Lynn was the first to arrive at the bomb shelter, being the seasoned athlete that she was. The hatch was tight and hard to open, but if anyone could do it, it was Lynn.

"Hurry up, Lynn!"

Using all her might, the sports star managed to get it open.

"Let's go!"

In a matter of mere seconds, all ten sisters where in the bunker. Lola, being the last one in (she didn't want to get dirt on her dress from running too fast) quickly closed the hatch in the nick of time. The skunks clawed at the bomb shelter, but to no avail. Lisa knew what she was doing when she built it.

Giving up, the skunks walked away into the brush behind the Loud residence, never to be seen again. Lincoln watched in amazement from behind the garage. He had just witnessed his scheme go perfectly as planned. Although he had worked out how he would launch his attack for two weeks, he was still surprised that not one thing had went wrong. He worked for months on finding a way to get the sweet spot in vanzilla after all, and than plan had failed horribly.

Lincoln was about to have his first major victory against his sisters. It just felt so… good.

The boy wasn't going to let his success thus far go to waste. "Clyde, phase two!" Lincoln and his friend quickly ran over to the bomb shelter, each of them holding a tube of superglue and a roll of duct tape. Once there, the boys quickly sealed off the hatch as best as they could. They wanted to make sure no one from inside had a chance of escaping.

The girls inside the bunker where panting heavily. They had just ran for their life moments ago, so naturally, they would be a bit low on air. Once their breathing subsided, however, one of the girls heard something.

"What's that sound?", questioned Leni.

"It sounds like someone ripping off duct tape from a roll", said Lana. "I use that stuff all the time when I'm fixing stuff up".

Lori was suspicious. "Did Mom or Dad hire a repairman? Does anything even need to be fixed?" That's when it hit her. " _GUYS_! Lincoln's trapping us in!"

Lola was the first one to react. As soon as she heard the word 'trap', she sprung into action, trying to open the hatch. Unfortunately for her, it was no use. The bomb shelter was already sealed shut with glue and tape. Even with all nine sisters working hard, they were unable to move the hatch even an inch. Frustrated, Lola called out to her brother. "What gives, _Lincoln_?! It's getting hot down here!"

"Now, you guys will be finally forced to listen to me! Ever since the night I broke our model house, I've been trying to tell you something. You've never let me explain myself!" This could be it. Lincoln knew if he told his sisters that him breaking the model house was an _accident_ , they wouldn't be as angry at him, and maybe they'd even call off the war. The boy smiled. "That night I broke our model house, it was an _ac-_ "

Lincoln was abruptly cut off by the voice he recognized as Lola's. " _NO_!" she screamed. "You're not going to lie to us! _We don't want to hear it!_ "

The boy frowned. "Just give hear me out, guys!"

Lola refused. "No! We can't hear you! _Blah blah blah blah blah_ …"

" _WELL,_ " said Lincoln, yelling so he could be heard avoid Lola blabbering, " _I guess you'll just have to wait in the bunker until you're ready to hear me! I'll leave you in there all night if I have to!_ "

The sisters around Lola were clearly unhappy with this. Lola started to blabber louder, so that her brother would be unable to even yell above her noise.

"I'm usually a fan of dark places, but this is ridiculous", said Lucy.

"Yeah, my legs are cramped!" added the athlete. "If I keep them tucked in for much longer, I'll need to stretch for _weeks_ just to get them back to normal!"

"Come on, man!" complained Luna. "Let's just hear him out so we can get out of here!"

Lola stopped blabbering. A sick, creepy smile spread out on her face. "Oh, that won't be necessary..."

"What do you mean?".

Just then, the bomb shelter hatch opened up. The Loud sisters saw Clyde's face, looking down at them. He was clearly not happy. He had a somber expression, like he was just forced to betray a long time friend. In fact, that's exactly what happened. The girls came to know this as they came out of the shelter. On the ground in front of them, Lincoln was unconscious, blood gushing from his forehead.

"Clyde… _what did you do?_ ".

* * *

 **I apologize for this chapter coming out a couple of days late. I started a surprise vacation, and I have limited internet access. Because of this, chapter 4 will be a bit later than usual as well. Expect it to come out sometime next weekend. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was the longest one yet, and now things are starting to get intense!**


	4. Fragile Alliance

"That's right! Work it, Lola!"

The beauty queen posed for Lincoln. She was preparing for her upcoming pageant in the local park. Her reasoning was that if she practiced in a public space, she'd be less nervous when it came time to perform in front of the judges. This was going to be her first pageant, after all. She had been wanting to compete for as long as she could remember. Her parents had always refused, however, telling her that she was too young. "You'll be able to go when you turn five". Tomorrow would be Lola's fifth birthday, and she would finally be able to go to her first competition. Her ten-year-old brother, Lincoln, had agreed to help her practice for the big day.

"You're doing, great, Lola! Keep it up".

The six-year-old struck another pose.

"I'm tiiiiiired. Can we take a break now, Linky?".

"Sure, Lola. You can go play on the swings, I'll be here on the bench".

Lola smiled wide, revealing her two missing front teeth.

"Thanks, Linky!"

The soon to be pageant princess made her way to the swing set, which was currently empty. She began pumping her legs, like her brother had taught her to do, and was soon high in the air.

"Hey, you're gonna have to get off that".

Lola looked down to see where the voice had come from. She saw a group of three boys, about her age. They looked like they were trying to intimidate her. All three of them had their arms crossed, with a smug smile on their face. Most other 5-year-olds would have seen them and ran off, not wanting to cause trouble. Lola Loud was different. If you made her angry, she would have revenge one way or the other. Even her own siblings did their best to stay on Lola's good side.

The pageant queen hopped off the swing, and started walking over to her detractors.

The bully standing in the middle of the pack took a step forward. "What are you gonna do, princess? Throw glitter at us?" His two friends snickered at his joke.

Lola was now inches away from the ring leader. She tilted her head, wearing her sick, evil smile. " _I'm sorry. Was I on your swing?_ " she asked through her gritted teeth. The bullies who stood on either side of their leader started to walk backward. They were clearly disturbed. The middle bully, however, was not. He stepped forward, giving Lola a small shove in the process. "As a matter of fact, yes. Now, if you know what's best for ye', you better scram".

Lola's smile faded. " _I see…_ " The girl knew exactly what she was going to do. She had taken on bigger and older boys in the past. The soon to be pageant queen knew that beating up these three idiots would be a piece of cake. First, she'd kick out the feet of the main bully. As he fell to the ground, she'd lift up her knee, letting the bully's face hit it in the process. By then, Lola figured his two friends would be fleeing the fight. She'd run up behind one, jump on his back, and push him down backward. As he crashed to the ground, Lola would jump on his stomach, knocking the wind out of the bully. Next, she'd have to run fast to catch up with the last boy. He was pretty obese, though, so Lola figured it wouldn't be too hard.

Lola laughed.

"What's so funny, kid? I'm about to deck you!".

Lola stopped laughing. She looked her attacker in the face. "Oh, I was just thinking about how much _fun_ I'm going to have beating you three up".

The main bully started to slowly walk backward, just like his two friends. His retreat was cut short, however. He had bumped into a larger figure. He turned around, looking at what he had ran into.

"Are you giving my little sister a hard time?"

The bully had bumped into Lincoln Loud.

"Uh-Uhm, n-no".

All three boys ran off into the distance.

Lola turned to face Lincoln.

"I could have handled them myself, you know".

"Lola, it was a three on one fight. The odds weren't in your favor".

"But I've took on bigger, stronger boys before! Really!"

Lincoln smiled, and ruffled Lola's hair. It was a polite way of saying 'I don't believe you'.

Lola loved Lincoln, she really did. He was her only brother, and he was always willing to help her. He read stories to her at night, he acted as a butler at her tea parties, and he listened to her whenever she had a problem. All she wanted was for her only brother to stop treating her as a child. Sure, she was only five. But, unlike most children her age, Lola considered herself to be more mature and better able to stick up for herself. Her classmates made sure never to get on her bad side, her enemies feared her, and if it had not been for Lincoln, Lola knew she would have easily beaten up the bullies who had tried to steal the swings from her. The pageant diva just wanted Lincoln to stop underestimating her.

And she would find a way to make that happen.

* * *

The Loud family driveway quickly turned into a scene of panic. Crimson streams of fresh blood ran down Lincoln's forehead. The sight of their brother unconscious and on the ground bleeding scared the Loud sisters. Lola, being the oldest, was able to remain calm and direct her sisters to help Lincoln.

"Lynn, you're the fastest, grab the medical gauze! Quick! Leni, get a wet washcloth! Luna and Luan, carry Lincoln upstairs to his bed, hurry! Lucy, go make sure Leni is grabbing the right thing! Lisa, get your x-ray machine or whatever to make sure his skull is in one piece! Hurry!"

The loud sisters got to work without question, seeing their brother in the state that he was in. Everyone had been given a job to do, with the exception of the twins.

In all of the chaos, Lola walked up to Clyde, who had been staring blankly at Lincoln the whole time. His knees were trembling.

"Clydie, we need to have a word…" Lola motioned for Clyde to follow her, and he did, his head facing the ground in shame. Once they were behind the house and alone, Lola snapped.

" _I TOLD YOU TO OPEN THE BUNKER DOOR! I DIDN'T TELL YOU TO TRY TO_ KILL _HIM!"_

Clyde stuttered in fear, trying to respond to Lola. "H- He started to talk about t-the house! You t-told me never to let him s-s-say it was a mistake!"

"You _failed_ , Clyde. I told you to _peacefully_ let us out of the bunker once Lincoln trapped us down there". Lola turned around, and crossed her hands behind her back.

Clyde looked at the ground, even more somber than before. He betrayed Lincoln, and now he wouldn't even get anything in return due to him failing his job. He knew that their friendship went back years, and now, Lincoln would probably be so mad at him, he'd never want to see Clyde again. The nerd shuddered at the thought.

Lola turned around again, now facing Clyde. "It was hard work finding out his plan, Clyde. He rarely left his room, and the few times he did, I only had a few minutes to search his room for clues. Sure enough, Lincoln drew out his entire plan on the bottom of his mattress". Lola chuckled. "He did the same thing when he tried finding the sweet spot. That boy never learns, does he?"

Clyde looked up. "I guess not…". The nerd went deep in thought. _I backstabbed my best friend… just so Lori could be my girlfriend for a month… what kind friend does that? Now, I won't even get my end of the bargain!_ He kicked a can in anger.

"You may have messed up, Clyde, but you can redeem yourself".

Clyde looked up, with a hopeful expression. "You think I can do something so that Lincoln will forgive me?!"

Lola laughed. "No, silly! If you still want Lori, then all you have to do is-"

Clyde cut Lola off. He was clearly offended at her offer. " _NO!_ I'm done working with you! All you want to do is hurt Lincoln, and you _know_ he broke that house by accident! Why don't you let your sisters know?"

Lola walked over to Clyde, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Aw, Clyde. Sweet, innocent, Clyde."

The nerd stepped back, not wanting to be touched by the person who had just forced him to betray his best friend.

Lola looked around to make sure no one was listening. "If the rest of my sisters realize that what Lincoln did was an accident, they won't be as mad at him anymore. If that happens, I doubt they'll help me wage this war against him".

Clyde's mouth dropped. _Is Lola a psycho?_ "Then why are _you_ mad at him? You know he broke the house by mistake!"

Lola smiled. "It's a sister thing. You wouldn't understand".

Clyde was once again dumbfounded. "A 'sister thing' is making your brother _suffer a head injury?!_ "

Lola chuckled. "That was _you_ , silly. Besides…" Lola turned around, and began to walk back to the driveway. "At the end of this war, Clyde, Lincoln will realize something".

By now, Lola was out of Clyde's sight. Before he could start walking home, however, Lola's head popped out from the side of the house.

"Oh, one more thing Clydie. If you tell Lincoln or any of my sisters about the model house… well…" Lola laughed.

It didn't need to be said. Clyde knew Lola could inflict major damage on him if he spoke out against her.

The beauty diva's head disappeared once again behind the house, leaving Clyde to ponder just where he went wrong.

* * *

"What gives, Lola? Why did Clyde have to hit Lincoln with a _baseball bat?_ " Lori had just started their emergency sister meeting, and was already clearly angry with Lola.

"All I did was tell him to let us out of the bunker when Lincoln locked us down there" said Lola. "He must have panicked or something. It doesn't matter now, I already told Clyde we won't be working with him anymore".

Luna sighed. "Lincoln was _bleeding_ , dude. I didn't sign up for this".

Leni spoke up. "Yeah, I'm not going to do anything that makes him get _hurt_ ".

"It was bad enough when we made him fall into Lola's truck" said Lynn. "I roughhouse with Lincoln all the time… but this just went too far".

The rest of the sisters nodded in agreement.

Lola, who had been sitting on Leni's bed, hopped down and walked to the makeshift podium the Loud children used when they held sibling meetings. "Listen, guys. I'm just as sympathetic for Lincoln as you all are". Lola sighed. "He doesn't deserve to bleed for breaking a model house. But, listen. This war is meant for us to get _even_ with him. Not just for him breaking the house, but for all of the things he's done to us in the past. Remember when he uploaded all of those embarrassing videos of us to his school's website? Remember when he lied about being bad luck just so he wouldn't have to go to our activities?". Lola paused, letting what she had said sink in. "Sure, Lincoln was bleeding, and I feel just as bad as the rest of you about that. But now that Clyde is gone, as long as we're careful, we could continue the war without letting anything like what happened today to repeat".

Lola kept herself from smiling. She could tell that most of her sisters were eating her words right up. Now, it was time to seal the deal.

"This war is going to get ugly at times, like we've seen today. If we learn from our mistakes, though, we won't have any repeats of what happened in the driveway. In the end, it's going to benefit our entire family. Lincoln will learn his lesson, and we can go back to supporting him like we used to". The beauty queen paused again. "I'm not going to _force_ any of you to continue fighting Lincoln. If you want to drop out, you can leave now, and I won't bother you about it".

The Loud sisters started looking around the room, seeing if anyone was going to leave. Eventually, Luna stood up.

"I can't be a part of this after what happened today. Sorry, dudes". She walked out Lori's door.

Once Luna was gone, Leni stood up. "I don't like seeing Linky bleed. I'm going to leave, now… sorry!" With that, she left the room as well.

After Leni left, no one spoke. The sisters waited to see if anyone else was going to leave. After no one else stood up, Lola broke the silence.

"I assume the rest of you will be continuing our battle against Lincoln?"

The remaining sisters nodded.

"I don't like seeing that twerp bleed…", started Lori. "But he still has a lesson to learn. From us, not Clyde". Lori looked around the room, seeing if anyone else had anything to say. "Our attacks will resume as soon as Lincoln gets better. In the meantime, you guys should think about what _annoying_ things you're going to do to him. And I mean _annoying_ , I don't want you to literally _hurt_ him".

The sisters in the room once again nodded in agreement.

"In that case, I conclude this sister meeting!"

The Loud girls began to file out of the room, with the exception of Lola. "Lynn", she said. "Wait a minute, I need to talk to you… privately".

Lynn stood still, wondering what Lola wanted to tell her.

Once the rest of the Loud sisters left the room, Lola spoke. "Lynnie, I have an idea…"

Lynn tilted her head in curiosity. What was Lola going to tell her?

* * *

Lincoln slowly opened his eyes. He sat up, and looked around. He was in his room. Still half asleep, the boy tried to recall what had happened. He remembered skunks… that's right! His plan for revenge was today. Lincoln rubbed his temples, trying to remember more. _Did my plan even work?_ The boy remembered managing to get his sisters to escape to Lisa's bomb shelter… was he able to tell them he broke the house by mistake? He started to, but then…

 _Clyde._

Lincoln remembered now. His so called 'friend' had hit him in the head. _With a baseball bat_. It was so unlike Clyde. What would make him do that? Lincoln felt his forehead. It was patched up well with medical bandage and gauze, no doubt the work of Leni. Lincoln continued to think about his situation. He was _so close_ to his first victory _ever_ against his sisters! By now, the boy was furious. _I'm going to go over there right now and give that nerd a piece of my mind!_

Lincoln opened his door, ready to march over to Clyde's house. The boy was stopped in his tracks, however. Lynn was standing outside his door. She must have been waiting for him to wake up.

"Lincoln…" she said. "I need to confess something".

* * *

 **Lola is probably my favorite Loud House character. She loves her siblings, but when they cross her, she goes full psycho. I mean, she** _ **killed**_ **one of Lana's frogs because it burped! Some people have been saying I'm making her look too bad, but just wait until more is revealed. Her intentions may not be as bad as they appear. Anyway, I'm back from my vacation now, so I'll be able to get chapters out faster. Chapter 5 should be released either Wednesday or Thursday.**


	5. Shifting Relations

**I'll put my author's notes at the start of chapters from now on. Anyway, lots of people have been correcting me about how Lola actually never killed Lana's frog Seymour. In 'Sound of Silence', it is never actually revealed if the stories that Lincoln's sisters told him were made up just to scare him or if they were actually true. What** _ **is**_ **known for certain, however, is that Seymour is a deceased pet of Lana. His name is taped over on the tank that Lana keeps in her room. Because Lana is a responsible pet owner and animal lover, I doubt that any of her pets would die for any reason other than natural causes or if they are murdered, so Lola most likely killed the poor frog. With all of that out of the way, here's chapter 5; one of the best so far in my opinion. Enjoy!**

* * *

"What's up, Lynn?"

The athlete stood in Lincoln's doorway. "Uh... can I talk to you in… private?"

Lincoln was suspicious about Lynn wanting to come in his room. However, he doubted she would try to attack him while he had a head injury, and her tone sounded sincere.

"Umm, okay? Come on in".

Lynn smiled, and casually walked into the linen closet sized bedroom. Lincoln closed the door.

"What's up?"

Lynn sat down on Lincoln's bed. "You're not… mad at me? Are you?"

Lincoln paused to think. What was she talking about? Of course he was mad at her. He was angry with all of his sisters for attacking him and not even letting him explain that the model house incident was an _accident_. "A bit, yeah… why?"

Lynn looked down at the floor. "I don't think I've been… fair to you".

Lincoln was taken aback by this. "What do you mean, Lynn?".

"It's just that, well… I was so angry at you that night you broke the model house. I just charged at you without thinking. I'm not even sure what I was going to do to you… it could have been bad, Lincoln… if Lola hadn't stopped me…". Tears started to run down the athlete's cheek. "Lincoln, I'm your older sister… I-I'm supposed to _protect_ you… and then, Clyde gave you a _head injury_...". By now, Lynn was near the point of sobbing.

"Lynn…"

"I've been s-so _unfair_ to you… I just got wrapped up in this war, letting anger cloud my judgment… coach told me never to let that happen…"

"Lynn".

"I never even… h-heard your side of the story… b-b-before _attacking_ you…

"Lynn!"

Lynn Loud Jr. looked up. She saw her brother on the verge of tears. Lincoln was getting emotional, and that was unlike him. He smiled, letting a single tear run down his cheek.

"You got roped into this war, and even though your ball collection _did_ hurt my back" said Lincoln, rubbing his spine, "You obviously regret it. You're my only sibling to have shown me any kindness since the war started, and, well … thank you".

* * *

"Rough party, Luan?" The rockstar questioned as her sister walked into their shared room.

"Yeah, those kids were crazy! It's hard entertaining at these parties alone".

Luna, who had been laying down on her bed practicing her guitar, sat up. "Sounds rough, dude".

Luan started to put her birthday party supplies away.

"So… Lincoln wasn't your assistant today?"

Luan shook her head as she sat down to untie her clown shoes. "No, I'm still at war with him… remember?".

Luna scoffed. "You two always have so much fun entertaining at parties together. Why can't you put aside your silly war when you need to work?"

"It _is_ a lot harder without an assistant", admitted Luna. "And he _was_ my only sibling that was willing to help me and who could actually do their job right…"

"Then just let him be your assistant again!"

Luan stopped untying her clown shoes. She paused, obviously thinking about it. "No…" she said. "He'll have to wait until after the war to earn any more cake. Our other sisters still in the war are doing their parts, so I should to, even if it means a little sacrifice. Lincoln has a lesson to learn".

By now, Luna was clearly angry. "What _lesson_ does he have to learn! All he did was break a model house!"

"A model house that we spent _over two months_ on! Besides, this is bigger than just our anniversary gift! Like Lola said, remember when he uploaded all of those embarrassing videos of us?".

"That was pretty bad, dude. But he made up for it, remember! He posted totally worse stuff about himself right after! Kids were making fun of him for weeks! He turned himself into the laughingstock of his school for _us_!

"In case you forgot, Luna, we go to a different school than him! My classmates don't care how embarrassing Lincoln's video was, none of them even know who he is! Even after Lincoln uploaded his video to make it up to us, people still made fun of me for making jokes in my sleep like I'm some freak. It went on for _weeks_!

Luna frowned. "That sounds way harsh, dude. Sorry to hear that…"

Luan wasn't done with her rage filled rant. "And, remember when he tried to get out of coming to our activities by pretending to be bad luck? It made me question if I was even funny when I found out he was trying to ditch my comedy routine! My own brother didn't want to spend half an hour to hear me crack some jokes. I couldn't believe it!".

The musician hopped down from her bed, rage in her eyes. She walked over to Luan, pointing at her. "Don't. You. _Dare_ act like you're the victim from Lincoln's bad luck scheme. We made him sleep _outside_." By now, Luna was right in front of Luan. Luna's pointed finger lightly jabbed Luan. "He learned his lesson from that. Why does he need to be singled out in a _war_? How does that help anything?"

Luan gave Luna a light shove backward. She didn't need her sister's judgemental finger poking her. "That's just one of countless examples. Lincoln makes a mistake, then makes up for it. The cycle continues on and on, and never ends". Luan lightly jabbed Luna in the stomach with a pointed finger, like she had done to her. "This war isn't going to just stop the cycle. It's going to break the cycle. In the end, Lincoln learns his lesson, and everyone in the family benefits".

Now it was Luna's turn to give a shove. "No, Luan. You're wrong. _Talk_ to the kid, explain what problems you have with his behavior. I joined this war to teach him a quick lesson about our house, not to terrorize him. Now, I see Lola's true intentions… that's why I quit".

"It's no use, Luna. We're past the point of words. It's time for _action_. Lola will lead us to victory, I'm sure of it".

Luna scoffed. "Since when did Lola become your little ringleader?"

"She's smart, especially for her age. If she sets her mind to something, she'll make sure it gets done. So far, she's been successful in helping us break Lincoln's spirit-"

Luna cut off the family comedian. "Listen to yourself talk, Luan… you're a 14 year old taking orders from a 6 year old to ' _break the spirit'_ of an 11 year old".

Luan was silent. She didn't know what to say.

"I'm done talking about this. Have fun deodorizing your clown shoes". With that, the musician casually walked out of the room.

The comedian watched her roommate leave. _Luna just doesn't get it. She's always been close to Lincoln, so of course she's going to defend him, even when he's in the wrong. I'll show her…_ the gears started to turn inside Luan's head. _She's right about one thing; I should let Lincoln be my assistant again… just not for the reasons he may think._

* * *

Lynn and Lincoln walked out of the linen closet sized bedroom. Lynn went to her room, while Lincoln started down the stairs. He still needed to have a conversation with a certain friend of his.

Lynn Sr. was in the kitchen preparing his short rib chili, now that he had bought more chocolate from the store. As Lincoln walked to the front door, his father poked his head out of the doorway to ask where his son was going. "Lincoln, where are you heading off to? You need to be home befo-" Lynn stopped mid sentence, seeing the wound that his son had. "Lincoln, what happened to your forehead?".

"Uhm… Erm, I-"

Before Lincoln could make up an excuse (telling his father that he'd been hit in the head by Clyde would lead to _lots_ of questions, and would anger his sisters even more) Lori cut in. "He fell off his bike in the driveway, Dad. It looks pretty bad, but Lisa xrayed him and said it's gonna go away soon".

Lynn Sr. frowned. "Be more careful, Lincoln". With that, he turned around, retreating back to the kitchen.

Lincoln gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Lori" he whispered to his eldest sister.

"I didn't say that for _you_ , you know".

Lincoln exited the Loud residence, and began his walk to Clyde's. As he strolled down the sidewalk, he thought about what Lori had done. Usually, Lincoln's sisters would cover for him. He could recall a time they stalled his parents and set up a trampoline so he could get to his room before he was caught outside the house past his curfew. Now, though, they would never even consider helping him out. In fact, if he had been at war with them back then, they would have probably told his parents that he was out too late. Lori had lied about Lincoln's injury for only _her_ sake.

The boy kicked a stone in anger. _Why did I have to break that stupid house?_ Lincoln looked up. He was now facing the McBride residence. _Here goes nothing…_

 _Knock, knock._

The McBride boy opened his front door. On his porch stood Lincoln Loud. Clyde had been expecting him.

"Hey, Lincoln…"

"Hello, Clyde".

"What's up?"

Lincoln was angered by this. "' _What's up?'_ You know exactly why I'm here, Clyde! _Why did you backstab me?_ ".

"Lincoln, I'm sorry, I jus-"

The white haired boy's rage grew as he recalled what his former best friend had done to him earlier that day. "What could my sisters possibly offer you to make you _knock me unconscious?_ "

"The only reaso-"

"I was _bleeding,_ Clyde! Do you even know how close I was to my _first win ever_ against my sisters?!"

Clyde spoke up, so that he would not be interrupted by Lincoln again. " _LORI_ , Lincoln, _LORI_! Lola promised me that if I opened the bunker when you trapped them down there, Lori would be my girlfriend for a month!"

Lincoln went silent. _Lola knew about my plan all along…?_

"And I'm _so_ sorry about what I did… I don't expect you to forgive me, but Lincoln, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity! I thought I could just free them when you went inside to go to the bathroom or something, then tell you that they got out themselves… I never thought that I'd _hurt_ you… I panicked, Lincoln… _I'm so sorry_ ".

Lincoln felt a grain of sympathy for the nerd. Clyde had been in love with his older sister for as long as Lincoln could remember, and he never had any amount of success with her. This was probably the only chance Clyde would ever get with Lori, after all. Still, Lincoln was furious that his so called 'best friend' would backstab him, not to mention knocking him out with a baseball bat.

"Clyde…" said Lincoln. "You _backstabbed_ me. You know how much this war means to me, and you made me blow my first strike. I planned that out for _two weeks_!"

"And I don't think I can ever be forgiven… _I'm so sorry, Lincoln._ What I did was horrible, I'll never be able to make it up to you..." Clyde paused. He'd been thinking about it all day; and he figured it would be best to tell Lincoln that Lola knew him breaking the model house with an accident. No matter what Lola did to him, it was worth it to tell Lincoln after he had betrayed him. It was the least Clyde knew he could do.

"Even if I can't make it up to you… there's one thing I can do to at least show that I regret betraying you. I need to tell you something, Lincoln. Lola made sure I knew that if I tell you what I'm about to tell you, she would attack me. My social life, my school life, and hey, she may even rough me up a bit".

Lincoln tilted his head in curiosity. What could Clyde possibly tell him that would make Lola that angry with him?

"But I know that it's worth it. What I did was unforgivable, and the least I can do is tell you what Lola is keeping a secret from you. Lincoln… Lola _knows_ that you broke the model house by accident. Not only that, but she's trying to keep it a secret from your other sisters".

There was a prolonged silence. After what seemed like hours (which was only a full minute) of either boy uttering a word, Lincoln spoke up.

"Clyde… that's ridiculous".

"It's true! Lola told me right after I, uhh… knocked you out".

Lincoln shook his head. "I really doubt that… how can I even trust you? There's a good chance you're still working for Lola".

Clyde was offended by that accusation, but he knew Lincoln had the right to suspect it given the circumstances. "I'm being honest, Lincoln. Lola wanted this war with you even before you broke the house that night. I have no idea why, but remember, she's a _psycho_!".

The white haired boy didn't know what to make of this new information. He wasn't even sure if it was true. All he knew was that there was a lot more to this war than he originally thought. He turned around, and walked away from the McBride home without saying a word.

* * *

"So, Lynn, how did it go?" Lola looked down at the family athlete from behind her new desk. The beauty queen had dubbed it her "command center" for the war that she was now more or less the leader of.

The athlete looked silly sitting in the small, pink chair that Lola had set up on the other side of her equally pink desk. "Well, from what I could tell, he definitely took the bait". Lynn felt a cold chill run up her back. She felt horrible about emotionally manipulating Lincoln like she had. The sports star never wanted to do it in the first place; but Lola assured her that it was for the greater good. When she was mad at Lincoln, Lynn usually just roughed him up a bit. She never wanted a long, drawn out war. But that's just what she got had gotten herself into.

Lola cut off the athlete's train of thought. "Good Job, Lynn. If Lincoln sees you as an ally, you'll be a direct source of information to our side". The pageant queen laughed. "We'll know all his plans before he even puts them into action".

"Uhh, Lola?" asked Lynn. "Do you know if Lincoln broke the model house by, umm... accident?"

Lola answered the question nonchalantly. "I don't know, it's not like I was there". The 6 year old chuckled. "Even if it _was_ an accident, he's done plenty of other bad things. Remember when Lincoln posted that video of you hurting yourself with a rake when you were practicing soccer? Or when he popped your favorite football? Or when he let skunks lose in the house?".

Lynn _was_ angry at all of those things that Lincoln did to her, but she'd gotten over it; he learned his lesson already. As for the skunks, that would have never happened if Lola had started the war in the first place. Lynn wasn't about to disagree with Lola, though. The last thing she wanted was to get on the pageant queen's bad side. "Yeah, I remember…"

"Good" said Lola, flashing her trademark smile.


	6. Shallow Means, Deep Ends

**To those complaining about how Lola's motivation for doing all of this is bad, please note that her full motivation has not yet been revealed. To those complaining that Clyde has been acting 'out of character', I don't see a problem with how I've written him so far. He's been a loyal friend to Lincoln, but only one thing has gotten in the way of that; his childish obsession over Lori. He never would have agreed to** _ **hurt**_ **Lincoln, the only reason he hit him with a baseball bat was because he panicked (like Clyde is prone to doing). Anyway, enjoy this fresh chapter!**

* * *

The Loud family began to sit down for dinner. Lynn Sr. walked out of the kitchen, holding his short rib chili that he had worked so hard to cook. As the Loud children started to take their portions of the meal, Leni asked a question.

"Where's Linky?"

Like clockwork, the sole brother of the Loud family opened the front door. The rest of his family turned to look at him. Rita, being the concerned parent that she was, had her eyes widened when she saw her son. Figuring his mother was upset with him for not arriving on time, Lincoln began to give an excuse.

"Sorry I'm late Mom, I jus-"

"Lincoln? _What happened to your forehead?!_ "

Although it was still painfully throbbing, Lincoln had gotten used to the wound on his head by now and had more or less forgotten about it. He never considered that it would come as a surprise to his mom; he got so wrapped up with Clyde that the thought never crossed his mind.

Before he could speak up, Lori answered for him. "He fell off his bike while you were at Lily's appointment, Mom. All of us helped Lincoln patch it up as soon as we saw him hit the ground. It looks pretty bad, but it should heal up soon".

Rita's expression changed. She was glad her son was alright, but still concerned that he had been bleeding. "You girls are always looking out for him".

Lincoln walked over to the table and took a seat. He loaded his spoon with buttered peas, but before he was able to take a bite, Luan shot him a question.

"Lincoln, there's a party tomorrow afternoon. Could you help me out and be my assistant?

"Sorry, I can't that day. I promised Ronnie Anne that I'd go to Gus' Games and Grub with her-"

The boy's excuse was cut short by his father. "Lincoln, getting job experience is more important than the arcade. You've missed the last few parties, it's about time you get back to work. Not to mention, Luan needs your help. She told me that she's been having trouble entertaining alone".

Lincoln looked across the table at the family comedian. She looked back at him with a smug smile. This was obviously planned by her. With no way to get out of it, Lincoln was forced to agree. Not that he would like it.

"Alright, I'll go to her stupid party".

"Lincoln! That's no acceptable attitude in this house, you should know that".

The boy slumped down in his chair, defeated.

* * *

 _Knock, knock_.

Lola answered the knock in a cheerful manner. "Come innnnn!"

The door to Lola and Lana's shared room opened, and Lisa walked in. She had a whiteboard tucked under her arm.

"It's a pleasure to see you, Lisa. I assume your daily report is ready?"

The junior scientist nodded as she set up her whiteboard. "There's some pretty big developments today". Lisa opened up her whiteboard, revealing pictures of each Loud child in order of age. The 4 year old pointed at Lori's picture. She produced a green marker, and circled it. "Lori is still 100% on board with us. Being the oldest, she's pretty valuable. She's the only one that can drive, and a lot of the family look up to her".

Lola nodded. "She's still pretty mad at Lincoln, so I doubt we'll lose her anytime soon".

Lisa pulled out a red marker and circled the picture of Leni, then she circled the picture of Luna. "As you know, these two left the cause in our last meeting".

Lola sighed. "They're the first to leave, we need to make sure no one else follows".

Lisa nodded. "Next up is Luan. From what I've seen, she's still just as angry at Lincoln as Lori is. I doubt she'll leave the war anytime soon.

"As expected" said Lola. "She's valuable, just look at what she's capable of doing to us on April Fools. I'm glad she's still on board".

Lisa pointed to the next sibling on the whiteboard, Lynn. "Lynn has made Lincoln believe that she is an ally to him. However, she might actually be getting closer by acting friendly to him. I've monitored her go into his room on multiple occasions".

"Not good. If Lincoln makes her feel bad enough, she may leave the war effort".

"Next up is Lucy". Lisa adjusted her glasses. "Her will to carry on the war is fading. She's actually talked to me personally about the matter, and I could tell she's starting to feel bad for Lincoln".

Lola sighed. "What about Lana?".

"Well," started Lisa, in her usual lisp. "The case is pretty much the same with her. After Lincoln got hit in the head, from what I could tell, she just doesn't have the same motivation as she did at the start of the war. She's prone to leave at any point, now".

The pageant princess knew that things weren't going well for her. Her siblings weren't as angry at Lincoln as they were at the start of the war, and that could jeopardize their victory.

"We need a way to raise support for the war, and quick" said Lisa. "Otherwise, we could lose more people".

"Any ideas, Lisa?".

The scientist paused to think. "We need something that all of our sisters love; then frame or blame Lincoln after we break it".

Lola smiled. "Good idea, but what is there that every Loud child loves?" Before long, the little princess came up with an answer to her own question. "Albert".

* * *

Lincoln stumbled down the sidewalk, trying his best to hold all of the party supplies that Luan had made him carry. It didn't help that he was wearing his Ace Savvy Suit. Luan had forced him to put it on for the party, telling him that it was part of the theme. She herself wore only her normal clown attire. While Lincoln was usually comfortable wearing his superhero costume in front of his sisters and at conventions, it was different to have it on in public. He feared that it made him look like a geek, and, well, he had a point. Lincoln wore his underwear on the outside of his pants, sported a homemade cape made from bedsheets, and even had 'guyliner' applied onto his eyes. _I just hope no one I know sees me like this!_ thought the boy.

"Don't drop anything, Lincoln!" teased Luan. The comedian held only her briefcase. According to her, it was the assistant's job to do the heavy lifting. Lincoln grunted as he did his best to talk while carrying the immense weight of all the supplies Luan needed to entertain. " _How l-long is this w-w-walk?!_ "

"It's pretty far away, over in the city. We have about an hour before we get there. If I were you, I would just _hold on_!". Luan laughed. "But seriously, don't drop any of that".

Lincoln stopped his tracks, wondering he if he heard his sister right. "An _hour_?! We've _already_ been traveling for an hour!".

"Yup! So get a move on, we don't want to be late!".

" _Do y-you know how h-heavy all this stuff is?!_ "

"Of course I do, silly!" Luan chuckled, acting in her usual bubbly personality. She paused, looking up at the sky. Silently, but loud enough for Lincoln to hear, Luan mumbled "You know, it wouldn't be so hard if you weren't such a weak, sorry excuse for a assistant… _or brother_ ".

When Lincoln heard this, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. ' _Sorry excuse for a brother_ '? What did Luan mean by that? He knew his sisters weren't too happy with him at the moment, and sure, they made fun of him sometimes. But they never said anything _this_ hurtful. Did Luan now harbor actual hate in her heart for Lincoln?

Lincoln started to walk again, the weight of the party supplies made easier to carry by the comparatively worse pain he had just experienced by Luan's words.

* * *

The Sunset Canyon senior center had always been a peaceful and easygoing place. Residents walked slowly down the hallway, in no hurry to get anywhere. During meal times, people milled about and talked with one another. Bedtime was the same time every night, and no one ever miss it.

That all changed when Albert Loud came along. He was lively and full of energy. A proud grandfather of 11 children, the war veteran had no intentions of becoming inactive. When he got into the retirement home, he showed no signs of relaxation. He cannon balled into the pool, went on long hikes, and even once set up a ramp and rode his motorbike onto the retirement home roof.

Sam, a veteran nurse of Sunset Canyon, was not pleased with Albert. She ran a tight ship at the senior center. The nurse was strict about letting people out of campus, she monitored every last scrap of food that her residents ate, and she made sure that everyone got to bed at exactly the right time. Naturally, when the energetic and spiritual lively grandfather of 11 joined the retirement community, Sam was not pleased. At first, he showed total disregard for her rules. He ran down the halls, came home late, and let all eleven of his grandchildren visit him.

Needless to say, Sam wanted this to change. To make this happen, she knew she would have to convince Albert he wasn't as capable as he thought he was. When he ran in the hallways, she would say "Albert, don't go too fast! You might pop a disk!". When he came home late, she would warn "Albert, you need to be in bed on time! You won't have the energy to do anything tomorrow!". And when his grandchildren visited, Sam would say "Albert, you can't have that many visitors at once! Are you _trying_ to get a stress attack?".

Albert was a strong individual, and ignored Sam's warnings at first. Eventually, though, he started to question himself. With Sam repeatedly warning him every single day, Albert wasn't sure if he could things like he used to be able to. After a while, the veteran gave in. He listened to Sam's every warning, saying "Sam knows best…"

That cycle was broken, however, when Lincoln gave him a visit. After seeing the pitiful state that his grandpa was in, Lincoln was able to convince Albert that he _was_ as strong as he used to be, and no retirement home could ever change that. Sam was forced to accept Albert for who he was.

The veteran had so much confidence now, he set up a motorcycle show for his family and the members of the senior center to watch. He would perform tricks and stunts for the fun of it, all the while providing entertainment to his friends and family. The event was taking place outside of the Sunset Canyon retirement home, and the Loud family (with the exception of Lincoln and Luan, who were busy with a party) where on their way to see it.

"Are we there yet?" complained Lana.

"Actually, we are!" answered Lynn Sr, as he opened the van doors.

The Loud family got out of Vanzilla and took their seats in the bleachers facing the motorcycle course. Also speculating where some of Albert's friends from the senior center. Eventually, Albert rode out on his motorcycle, ready to perform.

"Go Pop-Pop!", yelled the Loud Children.

The veteran started simple (by his standards), by driving up a ramp, turning 360 degrees in the air, and landing on the ground. The audience cheered. "That's nothing! Watch this!" Still driving, Albert turned around, and started to drive back to the ramp. At full speed, he drove off the ramp, and did a backflip in the air. The crowd cheered once again. "Go pop-pop!" Albert smiled. Just wait for my next move!". The grandfather drove backward, turned around, and started to head to the ramp still going backward and at full speed. "Albert's gonna' take it to ya'!".

Something was different this time. As albert drove up the ramp, the sounds of wood cracking could be heard.

Lola looked away.

* * *

Lincoln and Luan were now in the city.

"The party is just around this corner" said Luan, looking down at her direction paper.

Lincoln tried his best to carry the party supplies. They were starting to really weigh down on him. Not to mention, it was impossible to see where he was going with the tall tower of juggling balls, clown shoes, and animal balloons blocking his vision.

"Come on, Lincoln! Pick up the pace!". The comedian smiled forlornly. She was clearly enjoying watching her brother suffer.

Lincoln grunted as he tried his best to shoulder all of the weight.

Eventually, the duo reached their destination. Lincoln gave a heavy sigh of relief as he dropped all of his supplies on to the ground. His arms felt like jelly. When he looked up, however, his relief melted away. He was in front of Ronnie Anne's apartment.

The boy turned to his sister. "Is this a _joke?!_ "

Luan said nothing; she only smiled.

Before Lincoln had a chance to flee, the apartment's front door opened, revealing the entire Casagrande family. Lincoln's cheeks turned bright red as he saw Ronnie Anne staring at him wearing his ridiculous outfit.

The hispanic girl burst out laughing. " _What are you wearing, lamo-o?!_ "

Embarrassment quickly turned to rage. _Did Luan make me carry all that stuff all the way out here just so she can embarrass me?!_ Lincoln clenched his fist, and turned to Luan.

The comedian looked at her brother. He was visibly enraged. Ronnie Anne saw Lincoln, and stopped laughing. She knew there was more going on here than she first thought. The Casagrande family watched on in horror as Lincoln charged at his sister, ready to fight. Luan braced for impact.

Lincoln ran up to Luan, trying to punch her in the face. Luan dodged to the side, and hit Lincoln hard on the side of the head. Dazed, the white haired boy stumbled backwards. Luan used this opportunity to kick him in the stomach, causing him to fall backwards on to the ground. Lincoln grabbed Luan's feet, and pulled them out from under her, causing the comedian to fall on to the ground as well. Lincoln got up, and stomped Luan in the nose. Streams of blood began to flow out of her nostrils. Enraged, Luan (still on the ground) kicked Lincoln hard in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Lincoln stumbled backwards once again, but managed to stay on his feet this time. By then, Luan was back on her feet, and in front of Lincoln. She used one hand to grab him by the neck, so that he was unable to move. Lincoln struggled, but the combination of him carrying the heavy party supplies for miles and the fact that he had just been kicked in the chest denied him the strength needed to break free. Luan moved her free first back, filled with rage and ready to beat down Lincoln.

Before she could attack, however, Ronnie Anne tackled her to the ground. "What the _hell_ are you doing?!"

Luan tried her best to push Ronalda off of her, but it was no use. "I was just embarrassing Lincoln, what does it matter to _you_?!". Blood continued to spill out of Luan's nose.

"You're doing more than embarrassing him!" shot back Ronnie Anne. "You hit him in the head! You kicked him in the chest! You were about to punch him in the face!".

"Only because he attacked me first!"

Ronalda narrowed her eyes. She stood up, letting Luan free. The hispanic girl turned to face Lincoln, who was kneeling on the ground in pain. "Lincoln…" she said. "You have a lot of explaining to do".

The Casagrande family started to rush out with medical supplies. "You patch up the white haired one!" "Get a tissue for the clown one!".

Just then, Luan's cellphone started to ring. She stood up, and dusted herself off. Luan pulled out her phone, and saw it was a call from her mother. _Odd._ she thought. _Mom usually never calls me at work…_ "Hello?" she answered.

"Luan!" said Rita, on the other line. "Come home now! It's your grandfather… there's been an accident".


	7. Sinister Intentions

**Things are going to need to get worse before they get better. To those complaining that certain people have gone 'out of character' do realize that not everything has been made clear yet,** **and some new developments down to road can explain why certain people have acted abnormally.**

 **Also, for those interested, I've decided to make a discord server since I've begun to accumulate a small fan base. The server has sneak peeks at upcoming chapters, a channel to discuss my stories, and is also a pretty fun place to relax! If you're interested, you can join with this code: 9KDWKVA**

* * *

Why did Pop-Pop put his life in danger?

Was he going to be okay?

Was it possible that he could… _die?_

These were the questions that hung in the air of the hospital waiting room. Everyone was thinking them; no one dared say them out loud. Lincoln looked at the ground. He and Lynn where sitting on one of the waiting room couches. The rest of the Loud children sat on the opposite side of the room, not wanting to be close to them. The Loud parents were already in Albert's hospital room, and would soon be ready to have their children visit as well.

Lynn looked at the ground. "Something's fishy about this, Lincoln. Pop-Pop is one _crazy_ man". Lynn paused give a nervous chuckle. "But I don't think he'd ever do anything that would put his life in danger…".

The athlete looked at him with a frown.

"The only explanation here is that Pop-Pop messed up. He's not perfect, after all". Lincoln gulped. "Besides…" he said. "You don't think that anyone would…" he stopped. It hurt so much, he didn't want to say it.

"... sabotage him?" Lynn finished.

Lincoln nodded.

The athlete gave a long, stressed sigh. "It's possible…" Lynn grabbed her knees, something she did when she was nervous. She was wearing her beautiful sunflower dress, something she only did on rare occasions. She looked so out of the ordinary in the formal clothing, Lincoln almost laughed when he first saw her in it that morning. Of course, given the circumstances, he didn't manage a chuckle.

Lincoln looked up at the hospital ceiling, as if the answer all of his problems would be written there. After a brief pause, he said "I doubt it". He looked over at Lynn. To his surprise, she was quietly sobbing, her hands covering her eyes in shame. This was the same girl who voluntarily took soccer balls to the chest, got wrestled to the ground, and tackled boys twice her size in football games. Lincoln scooted down closer to Lynn on the couch, and reached his arm over her back to comfort his older sister. She leaned into him, covering her face into his shoulder.

Lincoln gave his sister words of comfort. "If there's any chance that someone would be sick enough to _sabotage_ Pop-Pop… I'll do everything I can to find out who, and make their life a living nightmare".

Before long, the door leading to the hospital rooms was kicked open. Out hopped Albert on one foot. He was using crutches, and bandages covered his left leg and his right arm.

"Pop-Pop!"

The Loud children rushed over to form a group hug around their grandfather.

"Albert!" said a nurse, rushing after the veteran. "You're not well yet, you should have never left your bed!"

"Aww, phooey!" said Albert. "I wasn't going to let my grandkids wait out here any longer thinking I was dying!". The old man snorted out laughter.

In that moment, the Loud children loved their grandfather more than they ever have before. The thoughts of Albert being sabotaged vanished from Lincoln and Lynn's head; all they cared about right then and there was that their grandpa was alive.

* * *

"Our secret sister meeting is now in session!" said Lori, banging her shoe down on the desk.

"We gotta make this quick, Lincoln can come back from the arcade at any time now" commented Lucy.

Lola walked to the front of the room. "As you all know, most of us are in an ongoing war against Lincoln". She paused. "However, it has come to my attention that there are now mixed feelings about attacking Lincoln. Do any of you believe that he's learned his lesson by now?".

Luna raised her hand. "No one is perfect, dude. All he did is break a model house. Sure, it was kind of fun to plan out a Blitzkrieg to get back at him, but it should have ended there".

Lynn was the next to speak up. "I think we went _too_ far, guys! He's actually been physically _harmed_ because of this stupid war. You know, that baseball bat incident could have been a lot worse".

There was a chorus of agreement from around the room. Luna and Lynn's statements resonated with most of their siblings.

Luan crossed her arms. "Well, _I_ think we didn't go far enough!" The comedian's sisters looked at her. "I mean, not only did Lincoln break a project we spent over two months on, but he's always been a considerable pain in the behind".

Leni spoke up. "Lincoln may mess up at times, but he always apologizes and makes up. When he purposely stayed undecided on if we were going to go the beach or Dairyland, he made it up to us by bending over back to make sure we had a good vacation at the campgrounds".

Luan frowned. "Lincoln's gotten good at making a mistake but then 'making up for it'. It happens pretty much once a week at this point! If he really learns from his mistakes, he wouldn't keep making them!". No one said anything in response. The comedian continued her rant. "This war is going to teach Lincoln that we're not messing around. We're showing him that he needs to clean up his act. In the end, like Lola said, the war will benefit the entire family".

Luna shook her head. "It's just not right, dude. We're not the moral authorities here. Lincoln makes lots of mistakes, sure, but we do too! Remember when he tried to do the shopping for Mom, but we ended up blowing it for him even after he specifically asked us to behave in the store?".

There was a silence in the room as the Loud sisters remembered the time they ruined Lincoln's shopping trip.

"Well," said Lori. "I guess we're going to vote, now. All in favor of ending the war on Lincoln, raise your hand".

Luna was the first to raise her hand. "He's had enough, dudes".

Leni also raised her hand. "Linky probably learned his lesson by now, so I don't want to fight him anymore!".

Lynn was next to raise her hand. Unlike the other sisters to object to the war so far, the athlete offered no explanation to her vote.

Lucy was the fourth to raise her hand. "As much as I like blood, I don't like seeing it come from my brother. Even if it wasn't any of our faults, Lincoln would have never got hit in the head if it weren't for this war".

Lana was next. She raised her hand. "I guess it's pretty unfair what we've done to Lincoln, I think we should just stop now before we go too far".

"Five votes," said Lori. "Those in favor of continuing the war, raise your hand. Remember, you can still vote for the war even if you don't want to fight in it yourself".

Luan shot her hand up. "If we don't break Lincoln's cycle, it's going to go on forever. Let's win this war!".

Lola also raised her hand. "We've come this far, why stop now?".

Lisa, who sat at the end of the room on the window ledge, raised her hand. "It would be such a waste to end our assault now before declaring victory. Ergo, my support is with the war".

Lori raised her hand as well. "Lisa has a point, we've come pretty far, so it would be literally pointless to stop now when we're this close to victory". She looked around the room. "That's it, then. Five votes to stop the war, and four to continue it".

Lynn was relieved. She's really bonded with Lincoln while pretending to be his ally, so naturally, she was glad she wasn't going to have to pretend anymore. _I'm gonna hug him so hard when he finds out this stupid war is over..._

Luan clenched her fists. Was Lincoln really going to escape justice that easily?

Lola smiled. "Well, that's that then. Shall we move on to our next order of business?".

Lori nodded. "Our next subject is Albert. I think I speak for most of you when I say this, but I'm so glad he's okay. He really scared us when he got into that accident. I mean, he literally could have _died_!".

Lana nodded. "It was pretty scary waiting in that hospital". The tomboy petted her frog. "I could tell that even Hopps was nervous".

"Why did Pop-Pop even do something so dangerous?" questioned Lola.

There was a moment of silence as the Loud sisters pondered Lola's question.

Lola spoke up again. "When he first went into the Sunset Canyon senior center, he was supposed to settle down and quit doing crazy stuff. That's what Mom said. Remember?".

The Loud sisters nodded. They remember overhearing their mother talking on the phone, trying to convince Albert to settle down in his old age.

"He _did_ mellow out," said Luna. "I remember visiting him over in that retirement home, and he refused to let me play him my wicked guitar solo. He said that his nurse wouldn't let him listen to music that was too loud. It sucked, I was practicing for _weeks!_ ".

"Then what changed?" asked Lynn. "How does he go from refusing to listen to rock music to doing flips on a motorcycle?".

"I know exactly what happened!" explained Lola. " _Lincoln_ ".

The room became silent.

"What does Linky have to do with Albert going cra-cra again?" asked Leni.

"Simple". Lola slowly walked to the center of the room while giving her explanation. "Remember when Lincoln visited Pop-Pop by himself? Right after that visit, Albert went right back to doing crazy things again".

Lola was right. The Loud sisters remembered seeing their grandfather naked on TV, running around at a baseball game. That happened the same exact day Lincoln went to visit him.

"Well," continued Lola. "There's really only one explanation; Lincoln didn't like the new Pop-Pop, so he manipulated his own grandfather to go back to doing crazy things".

 _What?_ thought Lynn. _Pop-Pop has always been adventurous, all Lincoln probably did was convince him he wasn't an old man._ Afraid to speak up, however, the athlete kept her mouth shut.

Luna, however, was not going to keep silent. "That's ridiculous, Lola!".

Lola shook her head. "I know it may be hard to come to terms with, but Lincoln _is_ the reason Pop-Pop went back to doing outrageous things again. For _months_ , he was a normal old man. He never took risks, especially like the ones he used to".

The Loud sisters considered what Lola had said, and it was true.

"Then, the _very_ day Lincoln visited him, he went back to his old ways".

Lola was right again. During his visit, Lincoln convinced his grandfather that he could still do the things that he used to be able to do, even if he was getting older.

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa_!" interjected Luna. "Lincoln may have given him confidence, but how is he at fault for Pop-Pop's accident?".

"Simple," said Lola. "Mom wanted her father to settle down and stop doing risky things like skydiving and bull riding. When Lincoln visited Albert, he did _both_ of those things and more!".

Luna shook her head. "Albert has free will, it's not Lincoln's fault that he decided to go against what our mother told him to do!".

"True," said Lola. "But Pop-Pop would have never ridden any bulls, jumped out of any planes, and most importantly, did any dangerous motorcycle tricks if it weren't for Lincoln".

Luna has nothing to say. _Lola won't get it through her thick skull that it isn't Lincoln's fault Pop-Pop can't resist doing crazy stuff_. The rock star stood up, waved her hand, and made her way to the door. "I'm done with this conversation. Lola, you're going to put us on a _highway to hell_ , and I'm not about to be a part of that". Luna was now in the doorway. "I'm going to get some fresh air at the park, I'll see you guys later. _Think_ about this". The musician left the room.

Leni stood up, ready to follow her sister. "Uhh, I think I should go with Luna".

"Hold on, Leni" interrupted Lola.

Leni sat back down, and looked at Lola. "What is it?".

"You love Pop-Pop, don't you?".

"Of course I do!".

"And you don't want Pop-Pop to put himself in danger again, do you?".

Leni nodded.

"In that case, we're going to need to teach Lincoln a lesson. His selfish attitude almost cost our grandfather his life".

Leni sighed. "If we _need_ to do it to protect Pop-Pop… I guess I'm in".

"In fact," said Lola, doing her best to stop herself from smiling. "I say we reopen the war. Not just on Lincoln, but Luna, too. She's an obstructionist, she'll only get in our way once she finds out we're attacking Lincoln again".

The room fell silent as the meeting attendees considered what Lola had said. Was it really a good idea to continue the war on Lincoln after all that had happened so far?

Lori stood up. "Does anyone oppose declaring war on Lincoln and Luna?". No one objected. Everyone remaining in the meeting either wanted to get back at Lincoln, or was too afraid to speak up. "In that case, we'll be starting the war back up immediately following this meeting", The teenager sighed. "We'll make this quick, though. I'd hate to see another accident happen". She banged her shoe on the desk, ending the meeting.

* * *

Lincoln tried opening the door. It was locked. _Odd_ he thought. _My sisters usually leave the door unlocked for me if they know I'm coming home soon_. He rang the doorbell. The sound of the electronic ding-ding was quickly followed by the sound of shuffling feet. Lincoln could tell that most or all of his sisters were rushing to the front door to greet him. _Uh-oh_ he thought. Whenever all of his sisters were waiting for him, it usually wasn't good. He slowly started to take steps backward. It was a fruitless effort, however, as the front door slammed open. On the other side stood nine of Lincoln's sisters; all were present with the exception of Lily and Luna. They frowned at him. The boy gulped.

"So…" said Lola, walking forward towards him. "You thought it was a good idea to get Pop-Pop back into his reckless behavior?".

"W-What?" Lincoln was honestly confused. Where was this coming from?

"Well? Speak up, _coward_!".

That word stunned Lincoln. 'Coward'? None of his siblings had called him _that_ before.

Lola continued to walk toward Lincoln, pointing at him. "You thought it was a good idea to make Pop-Pop think he's invincible? That he has no limitations? And for _what?!_ Just so you had someone to _play_ with?!".

Before he even had a chance to explain himself, Lola attacked him. In a flash, the pageant princess kicked Lincoln's feet out from under him, went behind him, grabbed his arms, and pinned him to the ground. The boy squirmed in hopes of getting free, but it useless. The rest of his sisters surrounded him. Luan held a cage, and put it in front of Lincoln.

"She smiled. Remember when you released skunks on us, _Linky_?"

The boy gulped. If Luan opened the cage, not only would the skunk spray him, but it would also scratch his face. Lincoln started to become terrified, beads of sweat emerging on his head. He was _not_ prepared for that kind of pain.

"We're going to have to teach you a lesson. We're over that model house you broke, but you did something much worse with Pop-Pop. You _manipulated_ him, Lincoln. You made him think that he was more capable than he really was, just so you had someone to _play_ with… It's _your_ fault Albert got into that accident".

The rest of the sisters nodded in agreement. They all looked visibly angry with him; with the exception of Lynn, who looked away.

" _What?!_ You think it's _my_ fault Pop-Pop got into that accident?!"

Lori pointed at her younger brother. "Don't play _dumb_ , Lincoln. You _know_ Pop-Pop wasn't prepared for bull riding, skydiving, or," Lori gagged in disgust. "...Nudity!".

Luan laughed out loud. "Maybe this will teach you a lesson, Lincoln". She reached down for the cage. "You've had this a long time coming, anyway…".

Lincoln prepared for the worst. He viciously struggled, but Lola held him down with too much force. As he saw Luan reaching for the cage door, he closed his eyes, and embraced for pain.

The next few seconds went by in a flash. Lynn pushed Luan, sending her flying off of the front of the porch. Next, she ran over and tackled Lola to the ground, freeing Lincoln. " _GO!_ " she screamed. Her brother didn't need to be told a second time. He jumped up and started to sprint away from the Loud house. The rest of the sisters that were still on their feet started after him. Lynn, however, did her best to keep them back. Despite the fact that she was the strongest one in the family, even Lynn could not hold back the might of five different siblings. By the time they made it past Lynn, however, Lincoln had already covered plenty of ground. Knowing they wouldn't be able to catch up to their brother, they didn't bother chasing him.

By this point, Lola and Luan were back on their feet. The Loud sisters encircled the family athlete, clearly furious.

Lynn gulped.

* * *

After what seemed like hours of running, but was most likely only twenty minutes or so, Lincoln came to a halt. He collapsed to his knees, panting. Lincoln knew that he needed a moment to collect his thoughts. To help concentrate the boy took out his MP3 player, put in his earbuds, and played the first song that popped up.

(/watch?v=wix_6ZGpiU0)

He thought about his situation. Lynn has _saved_ him. If not for her, Lincoln knew he'd probably be busy bandaging up skunk scratches right now. Suddenly, he felt a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. The rest of his sisters were probably infuriated with Lynn right now. There's no telling what they could be doing with her.

The boy sighed. He wanted nothing more but to march home and save the sister that had just freed him from Lola's grip, but it was no use. Even if Lincoln tried to rescue Lynn, it would be pointless. She had barely managed to save him, and Lynn was much stronger and faster than him.

In that moment, a thought popped into his head. _Is it time to get my parents involved?_ The boy weighed the different outcomes in his head. If he told his parents, they would put an end to the war, but also punish Lincoln for releasing skunks in the house. He would be looking at _months_ of being grounded. Not to mention, his sisters would most likely upload the entirety of Luan's 'comedy Fort Knox' collection on him, leak embarrassing secrets, and do all kinds of things to make his life more miserable.

If he kept his mouth shut, however, things still wouldn't be much better. The war would continue, and he and Lynn would be targeted on a daily basis by the rest of the family.

Neither option sounded very good. Lincoln slumped down and put his head in his hands as his song played.

The boy looked into the sky. It was becoming dusk, the sun slowly fading from behind the distant Michigan mountainscape. He would have to decide later; it was getting dark, and he needed a place to stay for the night. He sure as hell wasn't about to go back to the Loud residence after what had just happened.

Despite his current situation, Lincoln smiled. _I'll win this stupid war…_ he thought. _One way or the other…_

 _I'll win it._


	8. The Air is Thick with Moisture & Guilt

**We need to remember that although Lola is good at what she does, and her siblings fear her for it, she's still only 6. Like anyone, she has limits, and guilt can really weigh down on someone her age. Lisa, on the other hand, is immune to guilt. I mean, she wanted to chloroform her own father just to get out of eating goulash! She wanted to take Lily's vocal cords out just to get her not to swear when the daycare agent was with her! I'm surprised more people aren't angry with her. She reminds me of Rick from Rick and Morty, in the sense that she doesn't believe in right or wrong, moral or immoral; only science. She also has a portal gun that shoots green portals, letting people travel in between different realities. How is no one else seeing this?! With Lisa's brains and Lola's ability to always get what she wants, could anyone even hope to stop them? If anyone could do it, it's the man with the plan.**

* * *

The church bells rang.

 _Ding dong ding dong, ding dong ding dong._

The Loud family, being 13 total people in size, took up an entire church pew by themselves. They sat in the front row; directly in front of the preacher.

"We gather here today to mourn the loss of our beloved Albert. He was a loving grandfather, and friend to all. He will be sorely missed".

All but Lola began to sob; the princess instead started wide-eyed ahead, looking at nothing in particular. She was in shock.

The church bells rang again, this time louder.

 _Ding dong ding dong, ding dong ding dong!_

Lola looked backward her. To her surprise, no one was behind her. The girl looked back ahead at the minister. He was looking directly at her.

"This is _YOUR_ fault!" he said, pointing at her.

Lola lifted up her hands to look at them. They were covered in blood.

"You are a _MURDERER_!" spit the minister.

The rest of the Loud family looked at the 6 year old. They were still sobbing.

"Mur-duh-ruh!" said Lily, pointing at Lola.

Lisa took out her calculator and began punching in numbers. "Judging from the severity of your crime, you'll be serving approximately… five thousand million years in jail".

"You're not my twin anymore!" said Lana, who couldn't even bare to even look at her sibling.

"Pop-Pop's ghost said that you're the worst grandchild ever!" spat Lucy.

"Albert was just a sweet, old man! _How could you do this_?!" said Lincoln.

Lynn shook her head. "You're worse than a cheater. You're a _murderer_!".

"There's _nothing_ funny about what you did to poor old Albert!", said Luan.

"Dude…" said Luna. "I would sail across the East sea, just to see you on the far side".

"You're worse than someone who thinks it's a good idea to wear socks _with sandals!_ " said Leni.

"You literally _disgust_ me!" said Lori.

The Loud family started to levitate around Lola. By now, the church and minister had faded away, and the only thing Lola saw around her family was blackness.

"Murderer! Murderer! _Murderer!_ " chanted Lola's family. They continued to circle around her, getting faster by the second, like an angry tornado.

The church bells came back, louder than ever before.

 _DING DONG DING DONG, DING DONG DING DONG!_

Lola covered her ears, but it was no use. The bells continued to ring. _No… make it stop!_

 _ **DING DONG DING DONG, DING DONG DING DONG!**_

Lola jolted up in her bed. Still panicking, she leaned backward, trying to get away from the ringing. She fell out of her bed, and hit the ground with a thump.

This noise had awoken Lana, who hopped down from her bed and ran over to her twin.

"Lola, what's wrong?!".

Lola sat up, now on the floor. She rubbed her back.

"Oh, just a nightmare…".

"It sounded pretty bad. Do you need to go sleep with Mom and Dad?".

"No… I'll be fine".

Lana shrugged, and headed on back to her bed.

 _I hate this!_ thought Lola. _I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! I HATE this stupid war!_. The princess wanted nothing more than for her battle with Lincoln to end. She despised how low she had to go just to achieve victory; how she had almost cost her grandfather his life, how she manipulated and took advantage of her sisters, how she had harmed Lincoln.

In that moment, however, Lola recalled the reason why she started the war in the first place. The girl sighed. She knew that she would have to see it through, no matter how much she disliked it. Her brother needed salvation.

* * *

Lincoln stood on the edge of Colby Cliff. He looked down at the rolling waves. Salty sea water crashed at the base of the cliff. It was morning, and the boy was a mess. He did his best to catch some sleep in the park. After all, he'd been forced to sleep outside before earlier that summer. He remembered a time when his entire family made him spend a night in the backyard, fearing he was 'bad luck'. Unfortunately, it was significantly harder catching shut eye during a cold Michigan night.

Luckily for him, it was Saturday, and he didn't have to worry about getting to school. All that concerned him at the moment was figuring out a way to save Lynn; the longer she was held captive by the rest of her siblings, the more harm they could do to her in their anger. Lincoln didn't even want to think of what had could have happened to her so far.

The boy shivered. It was still cold, and the wind was starting to pick up. Since he ran away from his house in a hurry, he had no time to get a jacket or even a long sleeved shirt. The boy crossed his arms, trying to heat up. He was shivering.

"Link, take this".

Before he knew it, someone was putting a jacket on him. Lincoln looked behind him, only to see his 15-year-old sister, Luna.

"It must have been rough last night, dude. I'm sorry things had to happen this way".

The boy had a million questions. Did his parents know he was missing? Why was Luna not home last night? Where the rest of his sisters planning another attack on him?

Despite this, Lincoln first and foremost knew he had to ask about Lynn. She had saved him, after all, and was probably suffering the consequences that very moment.

"Do you know if Lynn is alright?".

The rock star shook her head. "She wasn't able to escape after she let you free. We're dealing with a hostage situation, dude".

Any hope that Lincoln had of an easy rescue quickly drained. He's played enough video games to know hostage situations where very difficult. They required a perfect combination of stealth, speed, and quick thinking if the hostage even had a chance of being rescued.

Luna continued her train of thought. "It's not gonna' be easy to save Lynn. We're in over our heads now, little bro".

The way his sister spoke confused Lincoln. She kept using words like 'we' and 'we're'. Wasn't she on Lola's side?

"Uh, Luna?" asked Lincoln. "Are you still fighting this war?".

The girl shook her head. "No, I refused to fight for Lola. That made her pretty mad though, cause' when I got home, I got a bucket of water dumped on my head, a face full of pie, and a punch to the gut".

They did all that to Luna because she refused to fight on their side? How far where his sisters willing to go?

"I didn't bother even going inside, cause' I knew there was more where that came from" finished Luna.

"So… you slept outside too?".

The rock star chuckled at her brother's innocence. "Naw, I crashed at a friend's place. I'm a bit confused though, why didn't you do the same?".

Lincoln looked at the ground. Clyde was his enemy, Ronnie Anne's family would contact his parents if they saw him in his current state, and none of his friends from school where friendly enough to take him in for the night.

It didn't need to be said. Luna saw Lincoln's look of despair, and knew that he had nowhere to go.

"You can't be homeless forever, you know" she said.

"Does Mom and Dad know I'm gone?". In a family as big as Lincoln's, even as much as their parents loved their children, a child or two could be missing for a while without anyone noticing. One time, Lola hit a branch and fell off of Vanzillia when the Loud children were pushing it home, and no one in the family noticed her absence until she arrived back at the house covered in dirt and twigs.

"Don't know, bro. When I fled from the house, they weren't home yet".

Lincoln looked back forward, observing the water. The wind grew stronger, and in turn, so did the waves. They crashed at the bottom of the cliff, producing white foam, then disintegrating into nothing.

Lincoln faced his sister. "I need to save Lynn".

* * *

Lola knocked at Lisa's door.

"Come in!" said the scientist, not bothering to look at her sister as she walked in. She was busy twirling around a beaker, mixing the fluids inside it.

"Lisa…?" asked Lola, approaching the 4 year old.

"Yes?". Lisa continued to study her chemicals, listening to her sister but not looking at her.

"Well, I was just wondering…" the princess started. "You're the only other one besides me who knows what really happened to Pop-Pop, and, well… do you think what I did was wrong?".

"Well," said Lisa, finally putting down her chemicals. "It depends on who you ask. There's no 'right' or 'wrong', you know. If someone says there is, they're just passing their judgement off as fact". The kindergartener turned to face Lola. "Happy?".

"You know I would never purposely put his life in danger… all I did was adjust the ramp so that it would break eventually when Pop-Pop was using it. I had no idea he'd be going to the _hospital_ ". Lola paused. "Do _you_ think it was wrong?".

"Of course not," said Lisa. "Otherwise, I'd never have told you the degree to cut the ramp at. This is a war, and it's not one I'm about to lose".

Lola noticed that her younger sister never seemed to give a great amount of concern about anything. When the Loud children were trying to brainstorm a solution to stop their younger sister from swearing while she was being monitored by a nursery worker, Lisa's first suggestion was to remove the baby's vocal cords. For better or for worse, the little scientist disregarded commonly accepted mortality.

The princess sighed. "Whatever it takes, then. I just hope this war will end soon".

* * *

 _Ding, dong._

Lynn Loud Sr., who had been enjoying his Saturday watching sports, sat up from the living room couch.

"I'll get it!".

Upon opening the door, the father of 11 was greeted with the sight of Ronnie Anne carrying a large box.

"Hello, Mr. Loud. These are the party supplies that Luan left behind when she had to leave my cousin's birthday party early. I'm sorry to hear about your father-in-law".

The Loud family patriarch smiled. "How thoughtful of you, Ronalda. I'll have Luan carry this on up to her room. Would you like to talk to Lincoln?".

Ronnie Anne knew full well that Lincoln wasn't home, and that asking to see him would result in his parents finding out that fact. Sure, it wouldn't be long before they found out themselves, but it was best to keep it a secret for as long as possible.

"No thanks, I'm sure Lincoln's busy. I'll be off, now". Ronalda waved. "Goodbye, Mr. Loud!". She put down the package, turned around, and started to head off.

Lynn Sr. waved back. "Bye!". He turned around, now facing the stairs. "Luan!" he yelled. "Ronnie Anne brought your party supplies! Come get them!".

* * *

Lynn Jr. continued trying to resist, but it was no use. She was tied down tight to the chair Lola had put her in.

The athlete's roommate, Lucy, saw her sister struggling. "You might as well give up, Lynn. You're not going anywhere".

Lynn ignored this, and continued trying her best to free herself. She wasn't prepared to give up. The more she moved, however, the more pain she felt. Last night, she had betrayed her sisters and saved Lincoln. Needless to say, they weren't too happy with her, and took their anger out on her... they even let the skunk have a go at her. The scratches on her arms and legs flamed up whenever they brushed against the rope. Still, the girl continued to resist, even though Lynn knew that she had little to no chance of escape.

Just then, footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. Lucy sprung into action. She quickly put down her book on ancient burial methods, grabbed her bed sheet, and threw it over Lynn. This was the protocol Lola had told her to do whenever she one of the Loud parents were going to look inside of Lucy and Lynn's room. This way, they wouldn't be able to see the visible injuries on Lynn's body. If questioned, Lucy was instructed to tell her parents that Lynn was just helping her practice a ritual. If Lynn blurt out the truth of why she was tied down, Lola made sure that she knew there would be severe consequences.

There was no need for panic, however. As soon as she threw the sheet over her sister, Lucy took a look outside of her room. The person coming up the stairs was none other than Luan, carrying a cardboard box of her party supplies. The comedian continued down the hallway, and walked into her room. She carelessly dropped the box on her floor, and turned around, ready to go back to what she was doing before.

"Oof!".

Luan turned back around, and looked at the box. When it hit the ground, she was almost positive she could hear a sound come from it. Curious, the family comedian bent down, and tore open the top of the box. Unsurprisingly, she was greeted with nothing more than the sight of uninflated animal balloons, juggling balls, and clown shoes. She shrugged, and once again went back to reading her comedy book on her bed.

Unbeknownst to her, the cardboard box had more than just party supplies in it, and she would come to find that out very soon.


	9. Civil Discourse

**Sorry if this chapter took a bit longer to come out than usual. There was a lot of action that had to be described in great detail. Thus far, I've managed to release at least 2 new chapters a week, and I'm planning on sticking with my goal. I've had a lot of positive feedback both in my discord server and in the review section, and I'm very glad people are enjoying my story. I read every single review, and I'll make sure to have each chapter be as good as it can be.**

 **Also, don't forget what Lola had thought last chapter; "Her brother needed salvation". What could that mean?**

* * *

The Casagrande apartment was in it's usual state of chaos. Carlino looked around, making sure the kitchen was empty. Once he was sure, the 6 year old hopped up on the counter, and reached into the cabinet to grab a cookie from the cookie jar. What he didn't know, however, was that the kitchen shutters were wide open, and his mother had seen the whole thing from the dining room. "You put that back right now, you _Ñino malcriado!_ ". She stormed over to the kitchen entrance, but within an instant, she found herself in the air. The family dog, Lalo, had run right into her, knocking her off her feet. Seeing his opportunity to flee, Carlino reached his hand into the cookie jar.

Unfortunately for him, in his haste, he had clumsily knocked over the jar when he took his hand out, due to the fact that he was holding several cookies too many. The cookie jar hit the ground and shattered. "Cookie! Cookie!" squawked Sergio, the family parrot. The bird flew into the kitchen, and started pecking away at the cookies that had fallen on the floor. "Sergio! Bad bird! You'll get sick!". Ronnie Anne chased the parrot into the kitchen, trying to pull the cookie-loving bird away from the mess spewed out on the floor.

Bobby, hearing all the commotion going on upstairs, put down his sticker gun and went up to investigate. What he saw when he walked into the living room could be described in one word; chaos. By now, the Casagrande grandparents were trying to quell the situation, but seemed to only be making things worse by adding themselves to the chaos.

Carlos, the Casagrande father, walked into the living room while looking down into his book. "Did you know that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day, exactly fifty years after the declaration of independence was signed?". Before he knew it, the professor was knocked over by Lalo, who was running away from Rosa and Hector. The grandparents continued to chase the dog.

" _Mi_ _Marido!_ " cried Frida Puga, rushing to her husband. "Are you okay?!".

In the midst of this chaos, the doorbell rang. Ronnie Anne, being the responsible and mature individual that she was, ran to greet the visitors. "I'll get it!".

Once down the stairs, Ronalda opened the door, and saw Lincoln and his older sister, Luna. Why were they here?

The Latino girl greeted them, confusion clear in her voice. "Erm, what's up?".

"Hey, Ronnie Anne" started Lincoln. "You know how you said I have a lot of explaining to do?".

Ronalda nodded as she recalled yesterday afternoon, when she had to break up a fight between Lincoln and Luan. Before Lincoln was able to explain why he had shown up outside her door wearing a ridiculous superhero outfit, he rushed off, saying that his grandfather got into an accident.

"Well… you might want to sit down for this".

Ronnie Anne invited Lincoln and his sister into her apartment. As she took them to her room, she was careful to stay out of the sight of her family. Ronalda was _not_ prepared to be teased that her 'boyfriend' had given her a visit. When they reached Ronnie Anne's room, the three of them sat down. Luna pulled out the desk chair to sit in, and Lincoln sat with Ronalda on her bed.

Lincoln explained everything. How he had broken the model house, how his sisters declared war on him, how Clyde had knocked him unconscious, how he was blamed for Albert's accident, and how Lynn had saved him from certain doom.

To say Ronnie Anne was mad would be an understatement. At certain points, she would be so enraged, Lincoln would have to pause his story just to calm her down and make sure she didn't march out of the house and storm all the way over to the Loud residence just to give his sisters a piece of her mind.

Eventually, Lincoln finished his story, ending with the fact that Lynn was currently being held hostage.

"So," said Lincoln, "We're going to need to come up with some way to save Lynn".

Ronnie Anne smiled. "Then we better get planning, lame-o. Your sisters are in for one hell of a surprise when they find out the _queen of pain_ is on their case!".

* * *

"Luna's back!". Luan pressed her pair of binoculars to the living room window. She was on lookout duty.

"Odd" said Lola, hopping down from the couch. She held up the TV remote to pause the princess channel. "Why's she coming back after what we did to her last night? I thought we scared her off for at least a few days". The pageant princess signed. Was her work never done? "Girls!", she yelled. "Luna's here!".

The Loud sisters had planned for the return of the rock star. She had refused to join the war effort, and Lola had dubbed her an obstructionist. As such, she would be attacked nonstop while she was in the house until she joined the war effort. If she refused, the attacks would not cease until she left the house, leaving the rest of the sisters to carry on their war in peace.

By now, the 15 year old had walked up to the front porch of the Loud residence. She took out her keys, and opened the front entrance. Pushing the red door forward, Luna was greeted with the sight of 7 of her sisters looking forward at her, frowns on their faces. It reminded her of the time Lincoln had come home after he had uploaded the embarrassing videos of them to his school's website, and opened the front door to find all ten of his siblings waiting for him in anger.

Luna, however, was angry as well, and did not try to hide it.

"I _HATE_ HIM!" she yelled, storming past her sisters. She started for the stairs.

Lola was quick to run in front of Luna, stopping her in her tracks. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's going on?!"

The musician paused, and turned to face her sisters. " _Lincoln_!" she said. "He's a backstabbing, two timing, garbage human!".

This honestly confused the Loud sisters. Wasn't Luna on Lincoln's side?

"I found him in the park, and offered him my coat" continued the rock star. "And he _attacked_ me! He and some of his no good friends actually tried to pummel me!". Luna clenched her fist, visibly enraged. "They got a few good punches in, but I got out of there quick".

The Loud sisters felt sympathy for their sister. They knew it was no fun to be ganged up on. Lola, however, wasn't quite sure what to make of Luna's story. She squinted her eyes as she listened, skeptical.

* * *

"I _HATE_ HIM!". That was his cue. Lincoln heard Luna's yell from all the way from downstairs, letting him know that all of his sisters had gone to the living room in hopes of finding out why Luna had come back to the house. The boy kicked open the top of the cardboard box. After digging his way through inflatable balloons, juggling balls, and even a unicycle, he finally reached his way to the top of the box. Lincoln gasped for air. The small holes that he had cut in the bottom of the box gave him very little oxygen, so naturally, he was very relieved to be breathing normally again.

Even in his moment of relief, Lincoln made sure to focus on the mission at hand - rescuing Lynn. He made his way to Luan's door, and took a peek in the hallway, making sure that it was empty. Once he saw that it was sibling-free, Lincoln tiptoed his way down the hall, being sure not to make a peep. Every time he passed a room, he made sure to look inside for Lynn. While there was no way to be sure exactly what room Lynn was being held captive in, Lincoln had reason to believe that his athletic sister was upstairs, where his parents rarely checked. If she was downstairs, or in the attic, it would complicate the mission. It was already hard enough, trying to avoid 7 sisters.

By now, Lincoln had made it to Lynn and Lucy's shared room. He turned the doorknob, and slowly walked in, still being careful to be as quiet as possible. What he saw when he walked in angered him. Lynn was tied down to a chair in the middle of the room, scratches visible on her body. Lincoln knew that the rest of his sisters would be furious with her after she freed him last night, but he didn't think they'd go _this_ far. Still, the boy was ecstatic to finally see his sister again. "Lynn!" The girl looked up at him, and a wide smile grew on her face. Lincoln could see hope in her eyes, something he could tell she was missing for awhile. He ran over to the athlete, and started to untie her.

"What do you think you're doing?".

Lincoln jumped, startled. He quickly turned around, only to see Lucy. _Luna must have forgot about her, otherwise she never would have gave me my cue._ Lucy was the Loud sister to always be neglected.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't ring this bell right now, Lincoln". Lucy reached up and grabbed the string connected to the bell system that Lincoln himself had set up. He remembered when he and his sisters were paranoid of a burglar stealing their stuff, so they had worked together to set up a system in case they were robbed. Apparently, Lola had repurposed the bell system for Lucy to use if someone came for Lynn's rescue.

"Lucy…" started Lincoln. The boy knew he would have to convince his younger sister to let him leave with Lynn. Every word he said mattered, and one mistake could compromise the entire mission. If he upset Lucy, she would not hesitate to ring the bell. "I don't ask much of you… please, just let me go this _one_ time".

"You and Luna forgot about me, didn't you?".

She was right. If Luna remembered to also check for Lucy before giving Lincoln the green light to search for Lynn, this confrontation would never have happened.

"Yes, I forgot about you. Truth is, I've forgotten about you a lot… and I'm sorry".

Lucy nodded, and crossed her arms.

"But," Lincoln continued. "I've also done my best to be a big brother. Remember when I covered for you that time about the, uhm, _comic_?".

Lincoln spoke in vague terms, making sure only Lucy could understand that he was referring to the time he took the credit for clogging the outlet with the Princess Pony comic, even though she was the one who did it.

"That _was_ pretty nice of you", admitted Lucy. "But you hurt Pop-Pop, and you still need to learn your lesson".

' _Learn your lesson'_. Lincoln cringed at those words. Fueled by anger, the white haired boy made his case. "What 'lesson' do I need to learn, Lucy?! If you think Pop-Pop got in that accident because of any reason other than himself, you're being delusional! When I visited him at the senior center, _he was a mess_! He made himself put sunblock on _indoors_ , he made himself take a nap _at 7 AM_ , and he refused to even have a _splash fight_ with me! This is the same man who beat _navy seals_ in a paintball tournament just a week before that!".

This was new to Lucy. Thus far, she had only been told about Lincoln's visit from Lola's take, and she had made it seem much worse than Lincoln's version.

"I've been dealing with this garbage for too long, Lucy! I'm the punching bag of this family! I'm the butt of every joke! I'm _homeless_ right now, if you didn't know!".

Lucy's opinion on Lincoln was changing. She didn't know he had it this bad; the girl had never thought about it in detail.

Lincoln's tone changed back from anger to pleaful. "So, the least you can do is let me go with Lynn. Just this once, Lucy".

Lucy sighed in her typical fashion. Not actually sighing, but verbally saying "Sigh".

"Just this once, Lincoln. Lola won't be too happy with me, but you've given me reason to believe Lola shouldn't be the one I'm looking up to".

Lincoln stood in awe. Had he really just been successful?

He smiled. "Thanks, Lucy".

Unfortunately, before he could even begin to untie Lynn, Luna ran into the doorway. "We've got company, dudes!". She slammed the door behind her, locked it, and put her back up to it. The stampede of the rest of the Loud sisters could be heard running up the stairs, and banging at the door. "They started to suspect I was lying! We gotta get out of here, stat!".

" _LUCY!_ " screamed Lola. " _You open that door up, RIGHT NOW_!".

The goth girl began to shake. Lincoln knew that no one liked having Lola mad at them, and Lucy was no exception.

"That won't happen, Lola!" yelled back Lincoln, still untieing Lynn. "I tied Lucy down on her bed, there's no way you're getting in here!".

Lucy picked up the hint, and rushed over to grab hope. If she tied herself to her bed, it would look like Lincoln had done it, and then the rest of her sisters would believe that Lincoln had gotten the drop on her. They'd still be mad at her for letting her guard down, but at least they wouldn't know she had betrayed them.

The Loud sisters outside continued to bang on the door.

"I can't hold much longer, dudes!" warned Luna.

Lincoln's original plan was to free Lynn, sneak downstairs into the kitchen, and escape out the back door. That obviously wasn't an option, now.

"What are we gonna do?!" asked Lincoln, still struggling to free Lynn.

Lucy used her head to motion to the air vent near the ceiling of the room. "Use the vents, they'll lead you downstairs, then you can run out the front door!". She spoke loud enough for Lincoln, Lynn and Luna to hear, but quiet enough so that the sisters trying to break into the room wouldn't know that she was helping their sworn enemies.

By now, Lincoln was nearly done freeing Lynn from the chair.

"Big Bertha, coming through!". Lana could be heard with her favorite power tool; a chainsaw she had been gifted that Christmas. The tomboy started to cut open the door.

"And… got you!" Lincoln had finally freed the family athlete. He got up from his knees, ready to run to the vent, but was stopped by a giant hug from Lynn, who had been mostly quiet up until now.

A tear ran down her cheek. "Thank… you…"

"I'd hate to cut your emotional reunion short, dudes, but if you haven't noticed, there's a _chainsaw_ cutting through the door!

Lincoln, Lynn, and Luna ran over to under the air vent opening. Luna, being the tallest, jumped. She tried to grab hold of it, but it was no use. The vent was too far off the ground.

"Use this!" Lynn quickly pulled the chair she was previously strapped down to under the air vent. The rock star hopped up onto it, and tried jumping once again to reach the vent.

"Get on my back, dudes!".

Lincoln jump on his sister's back, and Lynn quickly followed, jumping on Lincoln's back.

"We can't make it!", complained Luna. Unfortunately, she was right. Even with herself, Lincoln, Lynn, and the chair, Lynn was just out of reach of the air vent.

Lucy put down the ropes that she was using to tie herself down to the bed, and raced over to her siblings. "I'll lift you up!"

"Lucy, put those ropes back on! They'll know-"

" _Just let me lift you!_ ".

Reluctantly, Luna allowed Lucy to stand on the chair, and expend all her might lifting the rock star up by the waist. Of course, the 8 year old couldn't do much to lift three of her siblings, but she had managed to hoist Luna up a couple of inches in the air. That was all she needed.

"Got it!"

Lynn grabbed the air vent, and hoisted herself into it. Once safely inside, she turned around, and extended her hand down to Lincoln.

"Grab on!".

Much to her brother's surprise, she was able hoist him up into the air vent within seconds. All the years of sporting apparently must have made her pretty strong.

"Lincoln, I'll grab your feet, then lower you down to grab Luna".

"But-".

"Just do it! We don't have time to think of a better way!".

Lincoln wasted no more time arguing. He did as he was instructed; Lynn grabbed his feet, and lowered him down. Luna, still standing on the chair, hopped up, and swung her arms to try to grab Lincoln's hand.

"Lynn, I need to go down further!".

"This is the best I can do! Luna, jump higher!".

Lynn's feet were split open, being supported by either side of the open vent. She knew if she went down any further, she would slip.

Lucy grabbed Luna's feet "I got this!". The 8 year old did her best to lift up her sister. This time, it was easier, since now she was only bearing the weight of one person and not three.

In that moment, Lana's chainsaw had finally cut a hole in the door. Lisa, Lola, Lana, Luan, Leni, and Lori ran through the gap.

Just in the nick of time, Lincoln was able to grab Luna's hand. "Got you!".

Lynn wasted no time, and almost instantly lifted up both Lincoln and Luna into the vent.

By now, the rest of the Loud sisters were under the vent where Lincoln had just narrowly escaped.

"We need to follow them! Stack on me!", said Lori.

"It's no use," objected Lisa. "By now, our male sibling could have gone anywhere in the maze of ventilation. Following him would be a complete waste of time".

"In that case," piped Lola, "We need to cover every exit of the vent! Lori, head to the kitchen! Leni, go to the living room! Luan, head to your room!". Lola gave each sister still on her side a place to be. She made sure to cover every possible exit the pipe system could lead to, leaving one sister to spare. That sister was Lola herself, who had some unfinished business to attend to with Lucy.

"So," she said, walking up to the 8 year old. "You decided to backstab your sisters?".

Lucy gulped.


	10. Old Ghost, New Regrets

**The plot thickens. Lola obviously regrets what she is doing, and her intentions may after all not be sinister. What could be strong enough of a motivation to make her go this far? Bits and pieces of hints will be dropped throughout the story, and all will be made clear in due time, dear reader.**

* * *

Lincoln slept like a rock. He had spent a long day helping Lola practice for her first pageant, and was catching up on some much needed slumber. Her 6th birthday was tomorrow, and he would need all the rest he could get.

The boy felt a tug at his shoulder. "Lincoln?".

Half asleep, Lincoln sat up, and rubbed his eyes. He looked to see who had awakened him.

His 5 year old sister looked back at him. She was holding 'The Princess Ultimatum', a book that her father usually read her every night.

"Daddy's working late…" she said, climbing up onto her brother's bed. "Can you read a chapter to me?". Lincoln was in no mood to do anything at the moment but sleep.

Hiding his discontent, however, the white haired boy rubbed his eyes. "Sure, Lola. But just one chapter, okay?".

The soon to be pageant princess squealed in delight. "Thanks, Linky!" she lifted up her brother's bed covers, and snuggled in next to him.

Lincoln opened up the novel to the bookmark. "Chapter twelve; Manners", he began.

Although he had no interest in the subject whatsoever, Lincoln read the entire chapter. It took about twenty minutes, and when he was done, the boy felt like he was tired enough to fall into a coma.

"That's it, Lola. Good night".

"Wait! I'm not asleep yet! Dad always reads until I fall asleep".

"But, you said one chapter?".

Lola looked up at Lincoln with the sad puppy eyes. " _Pleassssssse?_ ".

The boy sighed. "If you _insist_ ".

The 6 year old smiled wide, revealing her missing two front teeth. "Thanks, Linky!".

He continued to read, periodically looking at his sister to check if she was asleep. His eyes grew heavy as he read on, and Lincoln struggled to stay awake. Despite his condition, he soldiered on for his sister. Just when he thought he'd pass out, he heard snoring. He looked down, and much to his glee, Lincoln saw that Lola had finally fallen asleep. She had her arms wrapped around him, and her head was buried deep in her brother's side.

Lincoln couldn't help but smile at this. He put his head back, and let slumber overtake him.

* * *

"We're trapped like _rats_!". Lynn hit the vent wall in anger.

The athlete was right. After crawling around in hopes of finding a vent exit, Lincoln, Lynn, and Luna could not find any escape that was not guarded by a sister.

Luna looked at Lynn. "Getting mad won't do anything, you know".

"Lynn's right, though" said Lincoln. "Every single exit is being guarded. Lola knows what she's doing!".

The athlete curled up her knees, and put her head into her hands. " _This is my fault…_ " she said softly.

Lincoln was dumbfounded by this. Why was Lynn blaming this on herself? She _saved_ him!

"Lincoln..." continued Lynn. She looked at her brother. "You're an _idiot_ ".

Luna was enraged by this. Lincoln had put himself at risk to save Lynn, and she just called him an idiot? "Why, _you little-_ " said the rock star, grabbing Lynn's shirt in anger.

"You should have never saved me", explained Lynn. "Not after what I did to you… _I don't deserve it_ ".

Luna let go of her sister's shirt.

Lincoln looked down, his hair covering his eyes. "No, Lynn, you've got it all wrong".

He paused.

"You _saved_ me! You knew that most of our sisters would hate you for it, but you freed me anyway. They _hurt_ you, Lynn, something I won't forgive them anytime soon for".

The boy looked back up. Now that his eyes were visible again, Lynn and Luna saw tears coming out of them. "You've always b-been a great big sister… I-I remember going to your first baseball g-game…". Lincoln was getting emotional.

Lynn stared back at Lincoln, her eyes widened.

"Your team w-won, and it was only b-b-because of your home run…". Despite his weeping, Lincoln chuckled at the memory. "The first thing you did when you came off that field was to come to _me_ of all people… you gave me the baseball you hit out of the park… I've had that ball ever since, L-Lynn".

The athlete was taken aback by this. She barely remembered that baseball game, and was surprised Lincoln held onto her dirty ball for that long. Did he really care that much about her?

Before she could answer her own question, Lynn's train of thought was cut short. Lincoln lunged at his older sister, locking her in a hug.

"We're ending this war, you two. We're going to _win_ , too! I don't care what I need to sacrifice at this point, everything for me comes second to our victory".

Luna joined the group hug. "Sounds like a plan, little bro. I'm with you one hundred percent".

" _Whatever it takes_ ", whispered Lynn.

After a moment of this, the three broke up. "So, uh, how are we gonna get away from the house?" questioned Luna.

The white haired boy smiled. "They don't call me the man with the plan for nothing. Listen up, you two. I'm getting us out of here".

* * *

Lisa stared at her laptop screen, frustrated. She typed furiously away at her keyboard in her dark room. Her windows closed, and her lights off, the only source of brightness was the little scientist's screen.

Lola walked in, holding a cup of freshly made coffee. Lisa, being completely consumed by her work, didn't notice the pageant princess walk in at first. Lola set the cup down on Lisa's table.

Lisa turned around to face her sister. Lola saw heavy bags under the 4 year old's eyes. She was obviously very sleep deprived.

"Thank you, Lola. My white crystalline xanthine alkaloid- erm, I mean my _caffeine_ levels, were far too low to be working like this".

Lola looked at her sister. The pageant powerhouse could act cruel at times, but in this moment, she felt great concern for her younger sister of two years.

"Lisa…" she started. "Are you sure it's healthy to be working this long?".

The child prodigy looked back at her screen, and resumed her typing. "No, of course not. But this is work that needs to be done. I'm in this war to _win,_ Lola".

There was a moment of silence, save the sounds of Lisa furiously typing away.

"So…" asked Lola. "What exactly is it you're working on?".

Lisa continued typing, but smiled. "I look at this war as a game of chess. Once this is done, it's going to be our _queen_ piece, Lola! Lincoln won't stand a chance".

Lola didn't know how to play chess, or how important a queen was for that matter. But, she did enjoy hearing 'Lincoln won't stand a chance'.

The pageant princess started to make her way to the door. "Well, erm… have fun, I guess".

Lola left the room, wondering why Lisa was so weird.

* * *

Leni twiddled her thumbs. _Board, board, board_ she thought to herself. She had been sitting on the living room cough, looking up at the vent for about half an hour by now.

Just then, the vent door fell, and hit the ground with a loud _thud!_ Leni shot up from the cough, alarmed.

"Guys!" she yelled. "I think Linky's down here!".

Lola ran down the stairs, holding her father's golf club. " _Lincoln!_ " she yelled. "Come on out!".

Before she even made it all the way down the stairs, however, Lola was blinded by a sudden thick cloud of what appeared to be dust particles. She started to cough.

"What's- _cough,_ going on?!".

Lincoln, Luna and Lynn had gathered all the dust from the ventilation and pushed it down the vent opening so that it would form a cloud in the living room. The vents have never been cleaned since the Loud family moved in, so there was a _lot_ of dust ready to be collected. The thick cloud blinded Lola from even seeing two feet in front of her.

" _cough_ , Lincoln, when I get my hands on you- _cough, cough_ " she cried, swinging her golf club in front of her.

Back up in the vent, the three siblings were getting ready to jump down.

"Well… here goes nothing!". Lincoln hopped down from the vent. After hitting the ground, his knees hurt a bit from the drop, but it was nothing serious.

"Ow! Alright, Lynn, come down!". Lincoln whispered up to his sister, trying not to be found by Lola. Being the seasoned athlete that she was, Lynn jumped down and landed on the ground without a problem. After her came Luna, who landed safely as well.

"Alright, let's- _cough,_ get out of here!".

Since it was incredibly hard to see in the dust cloud, Luna and Lynn held on to Lincoln as he felt his way around to the front entrance. The strategy was to use the dust for cover, get out the front door while avoiding Lola, and flee the Loud residence. So far, everything was going according to plan.

A few minutes passed while Lincoln slowly walked blind around the living room, his arm extended, searching for the front door.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?".

"Uhm, I think".

"Well, you better hurry! There's no telling when this cloud will go away".

"Wait! I think I got it!'.

Lincoln felt his hand touch something at last. Was it the front door?

"It's me, Lincoln".

The boy jumped back, startled. He could recognize that voice from anywhere; he had accidently found his sister, Lucy.

Once calm, Lincoln questioned his sister. "Lucy… how are you down here?".

"Lola was interrogating me for information when you guys were up in the vents for the past half hour, but as soon as Leni yelled for her, she left me to come down here. I snuck out of my room to come help you three escape. I'm surprised Lola was careless enough to just leave me behind".

"She must have gotten excited that we finally started to make a break for it", said Lincoln. "I'm curious, how did you find us in all this dust?".

"I've gotten use to this stuff, since my secret dark places has lots of dust". Lucy walked forward. "Besides, it's not like it can get in my eyes".

Lincoln chucked. Lucy was referencing the fact that hair hair went down low enough to cover her eyes.

Luna continued to wheeze, but managed to force out a sentence. "We better, _cough, cough_ , hurry, _cough,_ out of here!".

Lynn and Luna held on to Lincoln, and Lucy grabbed her brother's hand. The four siblings slowly made their way through the dust cloud, doing their best to avoid Lola. The sounds of her constant golf club swinging made it easy to do so. All but Lucy closed their eyes and held their heads down due to the thick cloud of dust, and the three Loud children couldn't stop coughing.

Eventually, the four stumbled out into the kitchen.

" _Now! Go!_ " whispered Lucy.

Lincoln didn't need to be told twice. He sprinted to the door, and pulled the handle.

It didn't budge. The door must have been bolted shut from the outside.

"Lucy, it's not opening". Lincoln faced his younger sister.

"I know, Lincoln. And, for what it's worth… I'm sorry".

Lucy walked backward, and faded back into the cloud of dust.

" _What?!_ Lucy, where are you-"

"You're not the only one who read your history book, Lincoln". Lola slowly emerged from the cloud of dust, wearing a gas mask. "Gas is very effective in static warfare, why do you think they used so much in world war one? A cloud like this is easy to navigate if you have the right equipment. I _knew_ you'd try to use the dust to escape". The princess smiled. "Get him, girls".

Lisa, Lana, Luan, Leni, and Lori walked out from the cloud, also wearing masks.

"Your plan was _so_ predictable, Lincoln" said Lola. "Next time, at least give us a challenge".

Lincoln could only gawk in wonder.

" _NO!_ " Lynn charged at Lola and landed six cold, calculated punches on her sister. She didn't hold back her full strength. "YOU _MONSTER!_ " cried Lynn.

Before she could continue, Lynn was ripped away by Lori.

Lola held her stomach in pain, stumbling backward. Despite this, she persisted. "You call me a monster, but _look around at what you've done_ ". She pointed to the living room. By now, the dust cloud had mostly settled, leaving behind a mess in the Loud living room. The floor, the couch, the television, the coffee table- everything was covered in dust. "You have no one to blame but yourself, Lynn. If you'd just have followed our plan, this war would be over much sooner".

Lynn resisted, but it was no use. Lori held her back in a strangle hold.

Luna fell to the ground on her knees. She looked down in shame, accepting defeat.

Lincoln didn't move; he was in shock. Has his plan really been _that_ easily predicted?

Just then, the doorbell rang. The Loud parents were home early.


	11. The Bloodwoods Shiver

**This chapter was originally much longer, but I cut out the last part to save for chapter 12. It just made this chapter much too long for my liking.**

 **No one's pointed this out yet; but why does Lisa bother with the war? She's smart enough not to hold a grudge over something stupid like Lincoln breaking a model house, and she knows that Pop-Pop's accident had nothing to do with Lincoln. I'll be developing the reason for her motivation to help Lola in this chapter, and oh, boy, it gets heavy.**

* * *

Lola skipped down the hallway, happy as ever. She had just won her first beauty pageant ever, and was quite proud of the achievement. Now at the end of the hallway, the girl looked up at her brother's door. She knocked. " _Oh, Linnnnnky!_ ".

Lincoln opened the door. "What is it, Lola?".

"Guess what I just did!".

The boy scratched his head. "Did you finally get Lana to stop tracking mud in the house?", he joked playfully.

" _Nooooooo_ " cooed Lola. "Even better!".

Lincoln saw Lola's gold medal hanging around her neck.

"Did you win your pageant?".

Lola smiled wide, revealing her missing two front teeth. This _killed_ Lincoln every time she did it. He thought it was adorable.

"Yup!"

"I'm so proud of you, Lola!".

"I couldn't have done it without you, silly!".

Lola skipped off back down the hall. She stopped at Lisa's room. The door was closed, and she could hear power tools being used. Curious, the pageant winner cracked open the door, and peeked inside. She saw Lisa hunched opened her desk, working on what looked like a spaghetti strainer hat.

Lisa looked back, saw Lola's head poking in the door, and rapidly opened her drawer. She shoved the weird spaghetti strainer helmet inside of it, and slammed it shut.

Lola opened the door fully, and walked in. "Lisa…" she said. "What are you working on?".

"Nothing!" she said, obviously lying.

Lola wasn't going to have it. She walked over to Lisa's desk drawer, and opened it. Inside, she got a more clear look at the contraption Lisa was so desperate to hide from her. It looked like a spaghetti strainer, but had several red tubes running in and out of it. There was also an 'On/Off' switch on the side of the helmet, and a strap so that it could be tied around somebody's chin.

"Don't touch that!" Lisa slammed the desk drawer shut.

"That thing looked dangerous, Lisa!". Lola turned to face her 4 year old sibling.

"That's because it _is_ ", responded the little scientist, spraying saliva as she spoke.

" _Oooo!_ You have something dangerous! I'm gonna' tell Mom!" Lola threatened.

" _NO!_ " cried Lisa.

The scientist's voice boomed with fear. Lola took a step back. There was more going on here than she first thought. Lisa usually didn't care what her parents thought about her experiments, no matter how explosive they were. It was very unusual for her to act this concerned, and this fact alone frightened the pageant powerhouse.

"What I meant to say," said Lisa, calming down. "Was that I highly advise against informing our parentals about this contraption". She tapped on the desk drawer that the helmet was in. "If they find out, I'm not going to be the only one in trouble. I say that for _both_ of our sakes, my sibling".

"Why is that? What can that helmet do to affect _me?_ ", asked Lola. The little princess wasn't going to accept the fact that she was at risk of a grounding just because of a contraption Lisa was working on.

The child prodigy gave a long sigh. "Listen, Lola" she said. Lisa walked over to her door, shut it, and locked it. "What I tell you must not leave this room, understand?" she said, walking back to Lola.

Lola gave a nod. She wasn't planning on ratting Lisa out after making an agreement not to. That would be dishonest, and _The Princess Ultimatum_ warned about lies. In fact, Lincoln had read that chapter to her just last night. "So, what did that helmet thing do?".

"First of all, it's not a 'helmet thing'. It's a _chapeau bereavement_ , and the first of its kind. I've been toying with the idea, but as of right now, I have no intentions of using it".

Lola could tell that her sister was nervous about going into detail on her project. "Lisa, just tell me! _What does it do?!_ ".

The scientist sighed once again. "If you must know, Lola… once turned on, the contraption will instantly liquidate the brain of whoever is wearing it, rendering them dead on the spot".

Lola was in shock. " _LISA"_ she cried, "Why on earth are you making a _death hat_?!".

"I told you, I'm only _toying_ with the idea! _Ugh_ , this is why I didn't want to tell you!".

Lola did her best to calm down despite the circumstances. Speaking more softly, but still in a state of disbelief, she continued to press her sister. "Death is not something to _toy_ with, Lisa!". She paused. "In fact, I don't think you're making a death helmet for fun. There's something bigger going on here, isn't there?".

Lisa's face grew somber. It was rare for her to express any real emotions, so Lola knew she had struck a nerve in her sibling. "You're smarter than I thought, Lola. The truth is, I'm not working on this thing just for fun. I kind of want a _backup_ … oh, it sounds horrible now that I'm saying it out loud. But it's true!". Lisa adjusted her glasses, and turned her back to Lola. "You don't get it, nobody does. I'm a scientist at heart, but that won't last forever. Soon, I'll reach the apex of my research, and, well, there's really nowhere to go from there".

"So you're going to _kill yourself?!_ Lisa, that's _insane!_ ".

"Lola, you don't understand. Unlike you simpletons, I don't derive pleasure from trivial things such as television, video games, music, comedy, fashion, or prolonged phone conversations. The only thing that has ever brought me joy is _knowledge_ , and at my rate, I'll soon learn everything there is to know. Once that happens, I fear I'll slump into a deep state of depression. So, if you _must_ know, I've been meddling with ideas to relieve me once that point in my life comes".

There was a silence as Lola processed what Lisa said. Although she was only 6, the princess knew that something was seriously wrong with her sister. She always took things to the extreme, but _this_ was a new level of insanity.

"If you decide to _kill yourself_ , what will that do to the family? Lisa, have you even considered this?!".

"Yes, and quite frankly, I don't care. Human compassion is a weakness that I'm far beyond. It only holds people back".

Lola didn't know what to say. She looked at the ground. Her eyes were wide open, and her mouth was agape. The pageant princess just couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Lisa…" she said. "Turn around for me, please".

Lisa turned around to face Lola.

"I'm sorry…" said Lola. She lifted her hand, and slapped Lisa across the cheek. _Hard._

" _OW!_ " cried the scientist. Her glasses went flying to the left. " _Why, you little-_ " Lisa held her hand up, ready to retaliate. However, she never made the strike. Her hand froze in the air. Then, to Lola's surprise, Lisa broke down in tears.

"I'm a _monster!_ ", she sobbed. "I should have never _considered_ harming myself! I never even thought about how it would affect my family, my friends!". Lisa covered her eyes.

Lola knelt down next to Lisa, like Lincoln did to her when he tried to comfort her. "You're _not_ a monster, Lisa! You just started to dabble in risky territory. _Learn_ from this mistake". Lola locked herself in a hug with Lisa. "We're your family, and even if you see it as a human chemical reaction, we _love_ you, and we'd never forgive ourselves if we let you hurt yourself".

Lisa sniffled. "I never even t-thought of it like that…". She smiled, and returned her sister's hug. In this moment of weakness, Lola noticed that Lisa was acting her age, something rare for her to do. "Thanks, Lola".

The princess smiled. "Don't mention it".

Lisa broke away from her sister. "The next time you need any favor, no matter _how_ big, come right to me".

Lola smiled. "I'll be sure to do that, Lisa".

* * *

Ronnie Anne stood outside of the Loud residence, being careful to stay out of sight. She crouched down in a bush outside of the Loud's front yard, waiting for Lincoln and Luna to escape with Lynn. Once that happened, Ronalda's job would be to do her best to stop any sisters that came running after them.

 _What's taking them so long?_ Thought Ronnie Anne. She estimated that Lincoln has been in the house for over half an hour by now.

Suddenly, the hispanic girl heard a familiar sound. She looked in angst toward the road, and what she saw confirmed her fear. It was vanzillia, the Loud family's trademark vehicle. _Uh-oh_ , thought Ronnie Anne. _Lame-o said his folks weren't due back until tonight_. She knew that the Loud parents could seriously disrupt Lincoln's plan. Still, there was really nothing she could do. She remained hidden in the bushes.

The Loud parents exited the van, and made their way to the front door. Rita held Lily in her arms.

"Now, just where the heck did I put my keys?" Lynn Sr. fumbled around in his pockets. "Drat! I must have left them inside".

"Just ring the doorbell, dear".

On the inside of the Loud residence, it looked like a warzone. Dust covered the entire living room, wooden shards littered the upstairs hallway from Lana using a chainsaw on Lynn and Lucy's bedroom door, and Lincoln, Lynn and Luna were covered head to toe in dust and grime from crawling around the ventilation system for half an hour.

Lori, still holding Lynn tight, was visibly panicking. " _Mom and Dad are here_ already _?! What do we do?!_ " She spoke with terror evident in her voice.

"We just let them in", said Lola, already starting to walk to the front door.

"That's _crazy!_ ", said Lana. "What will they say when they see the mess we made?!".

"We don't have much of a choice do we?" said Lola, now at the door. Before opening it, she looked back to her sisters. Speaking softly, she said, "besides, if we play our cards right… this might just end up working in our favor". She turned back around, took a deep breath, and opened the front door.

 _Over my dead body!_ thought Lynn, still doing her best to break free from Lori's hold. She was starting to make some progress.

To say that the Loud parents were shocked when the door opened would be putting it lightly. The moment their daughter opened the door, their mouths fell agape. Without saying a word, they slowly walked inside.

Finally regaining the ability to speak, Lynn Sr. looked at his children. "Kids… uhmm, what happened?".

Lynn broke free from Lori's hold, and ran in front of her father. _I'm not going to let Lola twist this and blame Lincoln! That little brat is going to get what she deserves!_ "DAD!", she yelled in anger. "This is all _Lola's_ fault! Over the last month, most of your children have been mercilessly attacking Lincoln and anyone who didn't join the war on him!".

By this point, Lynn was wrapping her arms around her father, and burying her head into his chest to sob. "I should h-have told you sooner, b-but I thought I'd just make things w-w-worse for Lincoln".

The patriarch of the Loud family looked down at his daughter in shock. "Whoa, whoa! Slow down there, sport", He kneeled down and hugged Lynn, trying to comfort her. "We're going to have a family meeting _right now_ to sort this out. Girls, you have a _lot_ of explaining to do".

There were mixed reactions from the Loud children. Lisa simply adjusted her glasses, unaffected by the announcement of the family meeting. Lana, on the other hand, started to shake. _Dad's going to_ kill _me for using Big Bertha to cut down Lynn's door._ Lola frowned, but didn't appear to be afraid. Lucy didn't display any signs of any emotion, but then again, this was normal for her. Luan's eyes widened at her father's call for a meeting. The comedian was visibly terror-stricken. Luna stood up, having previously been on her knees in shame. _Will this war finally end? Or will Lola somehow manipulate Mom and Dad to be mad at Lincoln instead of her?_ , she pondered. Leni was nervous, but at the same time relieved that the war could finally be coming to an end. Lori crossed her arms, ready to make her case.

Rita came forward, shaking Lily in her arms. "The ten of you, come to the kitchen. _Now_ ".


	12. Running Blind

**It's becoming increasingly clear that the war was started for more than just to attack Lincoln. The entire battle has divided the family. Was that intentional? Can the Louds even hope to reunite after all that's happened so far?**

* * *

The family meeting had been going on for just under an hour now, and the Loud parents now knew _everything_. From the night it all started when Lincoln broke the model house, to the Blitzkrieg attack that caused Lincoln to fail his important test, to Lincoln's skunk retaliation, to his head injury from Clyde, to how his best friend had fallen out with him, to how Luan had engaged in a fistfight with Lincoln of front of the entire Casagrande family, to how the Loud sisters beat up and tied down Lynn for helping Lincoln, to how Lincoln had littered the living room with dust trying to save her; _everything_.

"So, let me get this straight" said Rita, anger evident in her voice. " _All_ of you declared a ' _war'_ on Lincoln for trying to _help_ your little project?".

"At first, yes," said Lori. "We thought he broke the model house on _purpose_. I mean, he literally did it in the middle of the night without telling us!". The teenager sighed. "But, eventually we got over that. We had a sister meeting, and we actually voted in favor of ending the war. But, after that," continued Lori. "We remembered that Lincoln was the reason Pop-Pop started to do crazy stuff again, and we kind of got mad at him again".

Rita sighed. This was _not_ how she wanted to spend her day off from work early. "Words can't _begin_ to describe how disappointed and angry I am at you girls! Making Lincoln fail a test? Lying about why he had a _head injury?_ Constantly _bullying him_ in his own house?! This is _unacceptable_!".

There was a pause as the Loud sisters shamefully reflected on what their mother had just said.

"Lincoln," said Rita, looking over at her son. "You're not completely innocent, either. You released _skunks_ in the house. Why didn't you tell us what was happening earlier? All of this could have been avoided if you just told us the truth about why you failed your test!".

Lincoln looked up at his mother. "If I told you the truth, I thought that it would just make things worse". He looked down in shame. In hindsight, he now knew that he should have just told his parents the truth the night they confronted him about his failed test.

Lynn Sr. put his head in his hands. "All of this happened without us knowing, too…". _What kind of parents are we?_

"Well, you kids should know that you're in _a lot_ of trouble", said Rita. "Some more than others, since apparently a few of you dropped out of the war early. _However..._ ". She paused. "I do believe that part of the blame is mine and your father's as well. While all of this was happening, we were too caught up in work to even notice that something was wrong".

Lola, who had had been looking down at the table and playing with a grain of salt, looked up. She didn't expect this.

"What you kids did was _very_ wrong, and you'll be facing some _very_ severe consequences," said Lynn Sr. "But, I don't believe that punishment alone will solve this".

Luan gulped. What was her father getting at here? What other could he do than punish the Loud children?

"The war has obviously divided the family," he continued. "And we're going to need some bonding time". Lynn Sr. reached down into his back pocket, and pulled out what appeared to be a brochure. "That's why… we're going camping!".

The Loud children expressed their disbelief in unison. " _What?!_ "

"See, it's already reuniting you guys!" Rita laughed.

"This won't be like when we went to the Scratchy Bottom Campgrounds", added the Loud father. "I've been talking with your mother, and it's been too long since the entire family got away from the town".

The father of 11 had a point. The last time he left town with his entire family was months ago, and that was when the Louds visited the Royal Woods Spa. Of course, _that_ trip ended in disaster. Lori broke the television antenna trying to break into the elevator shaft, Lynn and Lana broke _both_ elevators, Lola rented the entire spa for her and her stuffed animals, Lisa used her chemicals and accidentally turned all of the pool's water into corrosive waste, Lincoln and Lucy accidentally shut down power to the entire building, and Leni illegally worked for the hotel.

"We _were_ planning on going this summer, but, well, it's obvious now that we need some time to reunite the family. That's why we're all going to take off a week from school and work, and head on out of state!".

"Don't think this will excuse you from your punishments", said Rita. "When we get back from the campgrounds, you'll have a _lot_ of time to serve being grounded".

Lynn stood up. "But, before that, the family needs to make up and put the petty war behind us". He smiled. "Maybe there can be a silver lining to this disaster, after all".

The Loud children looked around the room at each other. Sure, when they got back, they could expect the worst punishment of their lives. But, it would be nice to go on a vacation first, even if its only purpose was to bring the family back together.

Rita stood up as well. "Well, you kids better get packing! We leave first thing in the morning tomorrow".

* * *

Lincoln sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He reflected on the family meeting. It did _not_ go how he expected it to go. As of right now, his sisters were out enjoying their last free day before they came back from the vacation and faced their inevitable grounding.

Just then, Lincoln's attention shifted to his bedroom door. Lola had opened it a crack, and was peeking in at him. The boy sighed. "What do you want, Lola?".

Now, with no point in trying to stay hidden, the pageant powerhouse opened the door fully and walked in.

"... Lincoln?" she said.

"Yeah?". Lincoln spoke in a calm tone. Sure, most people in his position would be furious at Lola right now. After all, he had just come to find out that she was the main reason behind the war on him. Still, though, Lincoln kept his cool. There was no sense on lashing out on her right now, as it would only add to both of their punishments when they returned home.

"I just wanted to tell you…" Lola looked at the ground, and shuffled her feet.

Lincoln looked with a mulish expression at his sister. Was she going to apologize after everything she did?

Lola looked up, and gave a smug, sinister smile. "... you lost the war".

Lincoln's calmness vanished. Was Lola _that_ smug? After _everything_ she put him through, she still had to rub it in his face like that? Rage built up inside Lincoln. He hopped down from his bed, and slowly walked over to his little sister.

" _Every_ plan you had, I predicted. _Every_ attack you attempted blew up in your face. Face it, Lincoln! You're a _loser_!".

Lincoln's hand formed a fist. Now, he was _furious_. Lola just couldn't let Lincoln forget about the war. As he slowly walked closer to her, Lincoln remembered everything he suffered. The Blitzkrieg, his fight with Luan, and how Lola had harmed Lynn.

By now, Lola was sticking her tongue out at Lincoln. She wasn't even _trying_ to be creative in insulting him. "Are you gonna _hit_ me, Lincoln? That'd leave a mark, you know! Daddy would be mad!".

 _If I hit her in the stomach, I won't leave any bruises._ Now only inches away from his sister, Lincoln raised his hand to strike. " _You_ _motherfu_ -"

As his fist made contact with Lola's stomach, however, a sharp pain ran up his arm. He held his hand to his chest, trying to cut down on the throbbing discomfort he was experiencing.

He looked at Lola to see what had hurt him. Just after he had struck his sister, a metal pan fell down from the inside of her shirt, hitting the ground with a clatter. With that, the pageant princess fled the scene.

 _He actually did it…_ Lola slammed Lincoln's door in haste, and ran down the hall to her room. Once inside, she closed her door, and hopped up onto her bed.

Then, she sobbed.

* * *

Bobby Santiago relaxed on his favorite lawnchair. Wearing his bathing suit and sunglasses, the teenager soaked up the Michigan summer rays. It was a bright day, and Bobby was on the top of his family's apartment roof. The teenager was doing his best to get a tan in hopes of impressing his girlfriend, Lori. Of course, this proved to be difficult, given the fact that the boy had trouble finding time in between his many jobs (which he _also_ did to impress Lori).

Needless to say, Bobby was willing to go to great lengths to impress Lori. However, he was also very protective of his sister. To Bobby, she was the most important girl in his life; even more so than his beloved Lori. If anything happened to her, the Santiago boy would go to any length to protect his little sister. When Lincoln Loud embarassed her in front of their entire class, Bobby had no choice but to break up with Lori until Lincoln apologized. When his sister came to him and told him about the incident, Bobby thought that Lori's little brother was a no good bully. But, as he got to know Lincoln, Bobby actually came to see him as the brother he never had. The two had become good friends since, despite their rough introduction.

Just then, the hatch leading to the apartment roof opened, and Ronnie Anne hopped out. Bobby looked up to see his little sister walking over to him. She looked pretty depressed, so naturally the teen was concerned.

"What's going on, Ron?".

The santiago girl sighed. "I just got back from Lincoln's place".

Bobby quickly sat up from his lawn chair. He produced his cellphone from his bathing suit pocket. "Is he giving you a hard time? I'll call Lori right now and-".

"No, no, no! No one's giving me a hard time, Bobby. It's Lincoln's sisters. They're giving _him_ a hard time".

The Santiago boy relaxed himself. "Oh…" he said. "What are they doing to him?".

"Well, for the past _month_ now, they've been at 'war' with him. Every day, they do their best to make his life as miserable as possible. They do small things, like take long in the bathroom on purpose, eat all of his favorite breakfast cereal, 'accidently' trip him in the halls; not to mention the _big_ things! They basically kicked him out of the house early one morning, and it made him fail a pretty big test. Not only that, but they almost scratched his face up real bad with a skunk. If Lynn didn't save him, he could have been hurt _real bad_ , Bobby!".

The teen listened to his sister's story. What she described sounded horrible to him, and he couldn't help but to feel bad for Lincoln. After all, he was the little brother that he never had.

Ronalda cracked her knuckles in anger. "If only he'd told me sooner, I'd have given each one of his sisters a healthy knuckle sandwich!".

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down there!", interrupted Bobby. "Why are they even doing this to him?!".

Ronnie Anne sighed. "Lincoln says the reason is confusing. When the war first started, they all were mad at him for breaking a model house. He did it by accident, but his sisters never gave him the chance to explain himself. They just _assumed_ he did it on purpose". Anger was very evident in Ronalda's voice as she spoke. "Their motivation for continuing on the war changed. After their grandfather got in an accident, they blamed _Lincoln_ because he visited his old man once and taught him that age alone couldn't' stop him from being himself".

Bobby shook his head in disappointment. "Lori never told me anything about this! I'm going to need to have a _long_ conversation with her".

Ronnie Anne sighed. "Well, I'll be in my room".

As the Santiago boy watched his sister make her way back to the ladder, he produced his phone. He dialed Lori's number, and listened to the phone ring. Soon after, she picked up.

" _Hello?_ ".

"Hi, Lori. It's me".

" _Boo-Boo Bear! What's up?_ ".

Bobby gave a sigh. _I might as well just get straight to the point_ , he thought. "Lori, have you been at 'war' with Lincoln?". Bobby spoke in a calm tone, trying to hide his anger. After all, he wanted to hear his girlfriend's side of the story before making accusations.

There was a pause as Lori thought of the right words to say. " _Uhh, yeah. But he totally deserves it! I mean, he literally put our grandfather's_ life _at risk_ ".

"You can't blame Lincoln for that accident, Lori. Lincoln never _made_ Albert do anything dangerous".

" _If it wasn't for Lincoln, Pop-Pop wouldn't be in a cast right now. Even if the accident wasn't his fault, he still has a lesson to learn! He's_ always _been a pain in the butt, and the war is the only thing that can straighten him out_ ".

Bobby couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did Lori even understand what she meant when she said Lincoln needed to 'learn a lesson'? "Babe…" he said. "I don't think a war is the best way to solve this! Did you even _talk_ to him before you _attacked_ him?!".

" _We're past the point of words, Bobby. You wouldn't even understand… it's a sister thing_ ".

Those words hit Bobby hard. How could _torturing_ your brother be a 'sister thing'?

"In fact," said Lori. " _I think we need to spend some time… apart. You're supposed to_ support _me, not criticize me when I'm obviously right!_ ".

Bobby was shocked by this. If things took a turn for the worse during the phone conversation, the teen knew that he would possibly have to temporarily break up with Lori to prove a point, like he did when Lincoln was making fun of his little sister at school. He never even imagined that _she'd_ be the one dumping _him_. Did this stupid war mean _that_ much to her?!

"I-... Lori-" Bobby tried to collect his thoughts. It was no use, though.

Lori had hung up.

* * *

Lisa and Lola were at the local park, enjoying their last day of freedom before the vacation, and after that, their grounding.

"So," said Lisa, working on a very complex sandcastle in the park sandbox. "Not even a few hours ago, the entire family agreed to put the war to rest for good. Not to mention, we'll be in an environment where out parentals will be around us much more frequently than normal. But, despite all this, you want to _continue_ the war?

Lola nodded. "If we stop now, everything we've done now would be a waste. I'm not saying it's gonna be easy, but it's something we _need_ to do". The pageant princess put a pink flag on top of the sandcastle.

Lisa stopped what she was doing. She put her shovel down, obviously thinking about what Lola had just said. "This is _quite_ the challenge you're about to take on". The young scientist could only help not but to smile. "And for that reason, consider me in!".


	13. Ballad of a Growing Lincoln

**Parts of this story are supposed to anger the reader. The sisters are acting worse than ever to Lincoln, and even going out of their way to make him miserable. Something like this is very unlikely to happen in an actual episode, simply before of the scale of the conflict and level of cruelty it entails. But, should that fact alone prevent me from writing about it in a fan** _ **fiction**_ **? Believe me, justice will be delivered. It just may come slower than most may like.**

 **This chapter is a sweet one, and also one that I'm proud of. I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

The Loud children sat in the living room of their houseboat. It was being pulled by Vanzilla, going down the highway. Lynn Sr. insisted on renting it for the getaway, and even though Rita contested the idea, the father of 11 went ahead and got it anyway. It was medium in size, with a living room, bathroom, and master bedroom. Of course, it could also be driven through water as well. Rita insisted that the family had a healthy mix of sleeping outside, as well as on the boat as it rolled gently on the waves.

Though the whole point of the early vacation was to give the Loud children bonding time to get over the war, all 11 kids were wrapped up in their own activities as the family made their way down interstate highway 75. From there, they planned to get off the highway and travel east through Ohio and Pennsylvania, and eventually into New York. From there, they would set up camp on the coast of Lake Ontario. As residents of Michigan, the Loud family had visited all five of the great lakes with the exception of Ontario, as it was the only one that was not connected to the Loud's home state.

Lori sat on the couch on her phone. Leni sat next to her, trying her best to manage her car sickness. Luna was practicing her axe guitar, albeit on the lowest volume at Luan's request. Luan lied on the floor with her back to the ground, holding up a comedy book and reading it. Lynn was playing some sort of sports game she had just made up by herself. Lincoln sat on the floor, reading his comics. Lucy wasn't present; she was most likely hiding somewhere dark in the living room. Lola and Lana were playing a game of Uno, and Lisa was jotting something down on her clipboard. Lily sat up front in the van with the Loud parents.

Leni tried to start a conversation to distract herself from her car sickness. She turned to Lori. "So, what are you doing"?

"Just texting some friends". Lori didn't bother to look up from her screen when she answered her sister.

"Oh, you're not texting Bobby?".

"Nope, we're apart right now. I dumped because he was being totally controlling and kind of deserved it. It was a wake-up call for him to respect my choices. I'll just get back with him when the camping trip ends".

Leni was confused by this. "Why not just be honest with him? Are you sure he'll even accept you back after what you did to him?".

This question was enough to make Lori look up from her screen the first time on the entire trip. She appeared to be offended. "Like _you'd_ know anything about Bobby". She looked back down at her phone.

Across the room from Lori, Lola and Lana's previously peaceful card game had devolved into a fight.

"Hey, it's my turn!", cried Lana.

"No, I put down a skip card!" said Lola in protest. "That means I go again!"

"Not if we're only playing with two people!".

"Nuh-uh!".

"Uh-ha!".

"Gross, Lana!". Lola was referring to the fact that Lana had just taken her chewing gum out of her mouth.

"I'm just looking to see if it's still pink".

"That's disgusting!".

"Fine, I'll get rid of it". Lana carelessly threw the gum out of the window.

Lola walked up and looked out of the window. "Lana, it got stuck to the side of the boat!".

"Oh, cool! I'll get it when we park. It's probably gonna' taste real good after spending that much time outside!".

" _Gross!_ ".

Lincoln lied on the ground, reading his comic. He had a limited edition, and it was very expensive. Originally, he wasn't too sure if he wanted to bring such a rare comic on the trip, but he eventually decided to do so since the car ride would be long and he needed all the material he could get.

"Coming through!". Lynn was running backward, paying no attention to where she was going. It was all apart of the game she was playing to keep herself entertained. "Whoops!". The athlete tripped over Lincoln, falling backward. Her feet flew up into the air, but not before getting caught on Lincoln's comic. Accidentally, Lynn kicked the book into the air.

" _No!_ " cried Lincoln, running after his limited edition Ace Savvy comic as it flew through the living room. Unfortunately, he was too late. It went right out the window that was just opened as Lola looked to find Lana's gum.

Lincoln ran to the window, and looked outside. What he saw surprised him. Although it was unlikely, his comic had somehow flew onto Lana's gum, and stuck to it. The comic was now loosely attached to the side of the boat.

Lisa walked up to also take a look outside of the window. "Fascinating!" she chirped. "It's a miracle that your comic managed to stick to the boat. However, it doesn't look like it's stuck on there very well. Judging from the wind speed, as well as Lana's jaw strength, I'd say that gum has only been chewed enough to hold on to the comic for five minutes. Ten, at best".

Lincoln sighed. It was unlikely he was ever going to hold on to his limited edition comic ever again.

"I bet Linky's too _scared_ to get his comic back!", cooed Lola.

"You _take that back"_. Lynn stood up from the floor, and walked over to the pageant diva.

"Make me!" said Lola, with a malicious smile on her face.

Lori stood up. "I _have_ to get this on video!". She pointed her phone at her two younger sisters as they walked toward each other, and started to record.

Lynn raised her fist, ready to strike.

"No! _Stop!_ " Lincoln ran in between his two sisters, and extended his arms in both directions, trying to hold them back. "The point of this vacation is for us to _bond!_ Not just go back to fighting!".

Lola and Lynn halted their advances.

"It _would_ be stupid for you two to get in a fight over nothing," said Luna, putting down her guitar. "Mom and Dad would punish _all_ of us. Just chill out, dudes!".

While Luna reprimanded her younger sisters, Lincoln stared at the comic. It fluttered in the wind. _If I can just grab onto the ledge…_

No. It was too risky of an idea, and definitely not worth it over some stupid comic.

Then again, Lincoln was surprised at how quickly Lynn has rushed to his defense. Lola was right; Lincoln was too scared to even try getting his comic back. Still, Lynn contested this when Lola said it out loud. _She_ had faith in him, when he didn't even have faith in himself. With this thought, Lincoln puffed out his chest, and stood up tall.

"I'm getting that comic!".

The boy poked his head out of the window. As soon as he did this, wind blew violently in his face. Because it was so late at night, only a few other cars were on the highway, allowing Lynn Sr. to get some extra speed. Lincoln looked outside to see how he'd get the comic. Extending off of the roof of the houseboat, there was a ledge about half a foot long. Lincoln decided he'd grab onto that and shimmy his way down the side of the boat.

 _Here goes nothing!_

Lincoln grabbed the ledge extending off of the boat's roof with two hands. With both of his feet still inside the boat, he made sure that his grip was tight. Fortunately for him, it was designed not to be slippery. He took a deep breath. It was risky, but his plan was to make his way just a bit down the left of the boat to reach his comic. He held on tight to the ledge, and removed his feet from inside the boat.

Instantly, regret filled Lincoln. He held onto the boat ledge above for dear life. His entire body was being supported only by his two hands. He could feel his own weight weighing down heavily on him. Not to mention, he was being constantly hit with high speed wind. He shimmied his way, slowly and carefully, down the side of the boat. He only had to move a few feet to the left, but this proved to be much more difficult than first expected. Making sure not to slip, the boy put one hand over the other. He took his time; if he fell, he'd tumble down right onto the highway.

Then, at long last, he made it! He was close enough to grab his comic. If he took one hand off of the boat's ledge, he'd be holding himself up entirely with one hand. Lincoln wasn't sure if he'd be able to support himself like that. Instead of using his hands, he'd have to use his feet to grab the comic.

He lifted up his legs, trying to get them near the comic. _This feels like I'm doing a pull up in gym class!_ Lincoln was not a fan of physical education. He swung his feet up to the comic, and tried to retrieve it. With one foot touching the cover of the comic and his other foot touching the back of the comic, he locked his feet together, holding the book in between them. He pulled his feet up, freeing the comic from the chewed gum that had bound it to the side of the boat.

Lincoln shifted his weight, and started to shimmy down back toward the boat window. He held his feet together tight, ensuring that the comic did not escape. Like before, he moved slowly, being very careful not to fall down onto the highway or be blown off the side of the boat by the intense wind that was lashing at him.

Once finally at the window, Lincoln discovered that it was closed. If not for the fact that he was holding on for his life, he would have slapped himself in the face due to his stupidity. _How could I forget? The window closes automatically unless it's locked open!_ Nonetheless, the boy still needed to get back inside the boat.

He tried kicking it with a single foot. It didn't budge nor break. He tried using both feet, but only to the same result. In that moment, Lincoln came to a chilling discovery; he was locked outside.

 _No, no, no!_ he panicked. He raced through his mind in hopes of thinking of a different way in. _I could wait until we stop?_ No. It would be hours before vanzilla came to a halt. Lincoln's arms were shaking, and he wondered if he'd be able to stay on even for a few more minutes, let alone a few hours. _I could yell for help?_ And so he did.

"Help!" screamed the boy. " _HELP!_ ".

Of course, this was a fruitless effort as well. Lincoln could hear Luna practicing her electric guitar again, so there was no chance anyone inside the boat could hear him. _Maybe I can get some car's attention?_ Now _that_ was an idea that could work! If someone saw an 11 year old boy hanging on for dear life to the side of a boat, their good human nature would compel them to drive up the road to his parents and let them know something was wrong. Lincoln turned his head to look at the road.

It was empty.

 _There was traffic all day, but when I actually_ need _it, the road is empty. Great._ With very few options left to him, Lincoln could only think of one more way back inside; breaking the window. Sure, his parents would be angry with him, and he'd probably be hurt by the debris of glass shards. Still, it was better than falling on the highway and waiting for his family to realize he was missing, only to turn around and find him waiting for them in the cold of the night. Not to mention, falling on the asphalt would hurt!

Lincoln shivered. It was cold outside, and the wind constantly hitting him didn't exactly help the matter. He fantasized about what he would do when he managed to make it back inside the boat- _if_ if managed to make it back inside. He would run around the living room, free to jump and skip anywhere he wanted on the solid ground. He would lay down face first in the soft, blue carpet, grabbing tufts of the rug in his hand.

Lincoln wanted nothing more than to make this fiction a reality. But… why bother? Once he got back inside, his sisters would most likely yell at him for being so stupid and breaking the window. _Just more fuel on the fire_ , thought Lincoln. What if he let go right now? Lincoln entertained the thought. His family would have a hard time finding him on the side of the highway, and there was no telling how long it would take them to even notice he was missing. _Serves them right._ Maybe it would finally open their eyes to how he was the odd one out, how he was always the last person considered.

Lincoln shook his head. _No! I'm better than that._ He knew he had to get back inside the boat. The only possible way back inside, unfortunately, was to break the living room window. He swung himself back and forth, gaining momentum and moving farther for each swing he accomplished. After five or so times doing this, Lincoln put his feet in front of him, and let go of the ledge. It was now or never. If Lincoln didn't break the window, he'd bounce off of it, and land down on the highway below.

While in the air, the boy closed his eyes and braced for impact. For the split second in between the time he let go of the ledge, his life flashed before his eyes. He recalled his earliest memory; Lori feeding him ice cream in his high chair. He remembered Leni sewing Bun-Bun back together after it had been ripped. He remembered Luna singing him to sleep. He remembered Luan cheering him up after he had fallen down the stairs. He remembered Lynn playing a game with him when it was raining outside. His sisters _did_ care about him, and he cared about _them_. He took the blame for Lucy when she clogged the toilet, he put himself at risk to help Lana free his class's frogs, he coached Lola for her pageants, he volunteered for Lisa's experiments, and he stopped his intense chore strike when he thought Lily was missing in a pile of trash.

The Louds were family. They went through good times and bad, but they could always count on each other. The war was just a silly phase that most of his siblings had been roped into; it was over, and Lincoln knew he would have to work hard so that the family could reunite.

With all his might, and with the newly found inspiration to get back in the living room to his family, Lincoln kicked the window with all the power he could muster.

The glass shattered, and Lincoln tumbled in onto the blue rug. All of his sisters stopped what they were doing and looked up at him in surprise.

Lincoln stood up, and brushed glass shards off of him. Luckily, none of them had cut him. "Why didn't any of you come _help_ me?!".

The Loud sisters were clearly confused by his question.

" _Help_ you? With what?", asked Lana.

"I was stuck outside hanging on for _life_! Did nobody notice I was gone for so long?".

"You were only out there for literally two minutes, weirdo. Look at this". Lori held up her phone, and showed Lincoln the video she had taken of Lynn fighting Lola. She pointed to the time it was recorded; 2:04 AM, only two minutes ago.

"Oh…" said Lincoln. _It must have felt longer than it really was. I guess that's what happens when you rethink a lot of things in your life._

"But, if you were in danger, that's pretty messed up bro!", said Luna.

"That's horrid! What if you had fallen onto the highway? What if a low flying plane had hit you?!" cried Lisa.

"You're lucky that glass didn't hurt you!", said Lynn.

Lori got off of the couch, and inspected Lincoln for injuries. "We're sorry we didn't notice you were stuck out there". She put away her phone. "I guess we were just so wrapped up in our stuff!".

His sisters actually _cared_ about him. In that moment, Lincoln regretted even considering the possibility of intentionally letting go of the ledge when he was outside the boat. His family _loved_ him, and doing something like that would do nothing but hurt them. They didn't deserve that. Sure, they messed up by going to war, but now the Loud children where in the process of recovering.

Lucy rushed over to Lincoln with a package of band-aids. "Are you hurt?!".

Lynn ran over and swiped the bandage package away from Lucy. "You don't know what you're doing, let _me_ help him!".

Lincoln didn't skip around the room rejoicing in his freedom, or lie down and grab tufts of rug like he had promised himself.

Instead, he simply laughed.

* * *

Lola was on the roof of the houseboat, alone. By now, it was noon, and the sun was bright. Because they stayed up so late last night, the rest of the Loud children were sleeping in. Rita and Lynn Sr. took turns driving and sleeping in the van, so the only time the Louds had to stop was for gas or to empty the boat's toilet (with 11 children, it filled up fast). Because of this efficiency, Lynn Sr. knew the road trip would take less than 24 hours if the traffic allowed it.

The pageant princess had made sure to wake up early so that she could come up to the roof. The gripped the railing with one hand, and held a juice box with the other. Wind blew in her face as she stared down the highway, deep in thought. She looked down and to the left of the houseboat. Lola saw a red pickup truck, with what appeared to be a family of five riding inside. It had a Connecticut licence plate, so the family was probably taking a trip out of their home state for the weekend as well. She saw a little girl, and what looked like two of her older brothers in the back seats. In the front sheets, a mother and father were speaking. Then, all of them laughed happily, enjoying each others company.

Looking at the family, Lola remembered her intentions. _Soon,_ she thought. _Soon_.

And to this, she drank.


	14. The Day the Clown Cried

**It's been a bit longer than usual for this chapter to come out, and that's because I took a brief break to write an alternate ending to 'No Laughing Matter'. It came out really good in my opinion, and it was definitely worth it for me to write out of my comfort zone, even if it was just a one shot.**

 **With that out of the way, chapter 14 develops a sister that's been uncannily cruel up until this point. What are her motivations? Why is she so mean to Lincoln? This chapter is here to shed some light on that, at long last. I believe this is one of the best chapters thus far, so enjoy!**

* * *

The air was crisp, birds were chirping, and the water was shining. The Louds have arrived at their campground, and boy, was it beautiful. Vanzilla, and the houseboat it towed, had just parked on the camping spot that Lynn Sr. reserved in advance. It was in a very remote location, far away from any other humans. Not to mention, it was right on the bank of Lake Ontario.

"We're here!" exclaimed Rita, opening the front passenger door. She hopped out and took in a deep breath of the upstate New York air.

"Odd", said Lynn Sr., walking over to his wife. He held Lily in his arms. "I thought the kids would be out by now".

"They must be sleeping, honey. Who knows how late they stayed up without our parental supervision?". The mother of 11 walked back to the houseboat, walked up the steps, and banged on the door. " _Kids!_ " she yelled. "We're here!".

This was met with mixed reactions. Lynn was the first Loud out of the boat. She jumped out of the door, and ran around the campsite. Immediately, she found a nice sized acorn, and kicked it around. "Who wants to play acorn-ball?!".

Lola was the next to walk outside. "That's not even a real game, Lynn", she said condescendingly. The pageant princess held up her dress, and walked down the houseboat steps. She wouldn't want to get it dirty, after all.

Lana ran outside next. "Where do we get to poop?", she asked happily.

Lisa followed her. "Just make sure you do it somewhere close, I'd love to study any intestinal excreta that I can get my hands on!".

Lincoln was the next to leave the houseboat. His face turned green, and he had to keep himself from vomiting. "Gross, Lisa!".

"The service here is literally horrible! How am I supposed to text my friend like th- _Gah!_ " Lori, who had been looking down at her phone, wasn't paying attention to where she was walking. Because of this, she didn't notice the drop, and missed the staircase that she was supposed to use. The teenager fell down about four feet, and landed headfirst into a bush.

"Lori! Let me help you!" Leni ran out of the boat, and extended her arm down to her older sister, helping her get back on her feet.

As Luan walked out of the boat, she couldn't help but to make a pun. "Lori, you're already _falling_ for this vacation!". She laughed.

Lynn Sr. scratched his head, and counted on his fingers. "I guess that just leaves Luna", he said. As he walked inside the houseboat living room, he saw his musical daughter asleep and snoring loudly on the couch. In her hands, she held onto her electric guitar. _This will wake her up_ , Lynn thought. He walked over to his daughter, turned on her amps to full volume, and played a note on the guitar that Luna clutched in her sleep. The noise was loud, even enough so to wake up Luna.

The rock star shot up. "Gah- Wha- McSwagger, where'd you go?".

Lynn Sr. smiled. "Well, I guess that's everyo-"

"You forgot me", came a voice from behind him.

The sudden voice started Lynn Sr., and he jumped in the air in fear. Once he calmed down, however, he looked behind him to see his 8 year old daughter, Lucy.

"Oh, right" he said, still breathing heavily from the scare. "Lucy, too. _Now,_ that's everyone!".

Lucy and Luna walked out of the living room, while Lynn Sr. stayed behind. He looked at the broken window. He first found out about it on one of his pit-stops for gas. Apparently, Lincoln had accidentally locked himself outside of the boat while it was moving. _What he did was dangerous, and no doubt I'll have to punish him for it when we get home, but at least he's becoming braver_. _I wonder why that is?_ Lynn Sr. walked outside, closing the houseboat door behind him.

"Alright, kids!" said the father, putting his hands on his hips. "Setting up camp for this many people isn't going to be an easy task, so we _all_ need to pitch in. And, because we're here to bond, I've paired each of you up to do a certain task".

Lincoln gulped. _Please, put me with Lynn! I'll be fine with Luna or Leni to! Honestly, I don't care as long as I'm not with HER!_ he thought, desperately wanting to avoid being paired up with one sister in particular.

The father of 11 reached in his pocket and pulled out flashcards. "Alright, now. Lori and Luna will be driving out to the town to get a window replacement". Lynn Sr. put the flashcard to the back of the deck.

Lori shrugged, and went back to texting. Luna smiled, happy to have a fairly easy task.

"Lana and Lynn will be setting up tents," he said, reading the next flashcard in the stack.

The two tomboys of the family gave each other a high-five, obviously excited to work together.

"Lola and… Lisa?" said Lynn Sr., a hint of confusion in his voice. He could have sworn that he paired Lola up with Luan. Shrugging it off, however, the father of 11 continued reading off his assigned tasks. "You two will clean up the mess in the boat".

Lola smiled. Her plan had worked. She predicted that her father would assign partners, so when he stopped for gas, Lola had snuck into Vanzilla. Sure enough, she had found a deck of flashcards with sibling pairings. After pairing herself with Lisa, the pageant powerhouse snooped off back to the boat.

Lincoln gulped. This was it. He would be paired with either Leni, Lucy, or Luan. It's not like he'd be happy with any of them, but one of them would be the worst possible sister he could be partnered up with. Leni would most likely be confused at whatever task she was given, Lucy and him wouldn't get along very well after she had just betrayed him two days ago, but, _Luan_. She'd be the absolute _worst_ to work with! The 'comedian' had been the most violent and cruel sister throughout the entire war. At one point, Lincoln even got in a fistfight with her! The boy didn't care what task he had to do. Heck, he'd even be willing to set up the entire camp himself. All as long as he didn't have to work with Luan.

The boy's train of thought was interrupted by his father's voice. He was announcing the next two pairings. "Leni and Lucy will be preparing dinner, and Lincoln will be collecting firewood with Luan", he said.

Lincoln didn't say a word. The worst possible situation had just happened. If this were Lisa's chart, the threat level would be an erupting volcano for him. All he could do was stand there with his mouth open.

Luan, however, was not silent. "Why Lincoln, Dad? Why do _I_ have to work with him?".

"I don't want to hear _any_ complaining", shot back Lynn Sr. "We're here to bond, and there will be _no_ arguing. These pairings are _final_ ".

Luan kicked a stone in anger.

* * *

"Move faster, lame-o!". Luan gave Lincoln a push as they walked through the woods, in search of firewood. The siblings needed to travel a good distance away from the camp, seeing as they were in search of logs not too big nor small.

"First of all, I'm moving as fast as I can while holding all of this wood!" shot back Lincoln, doing his best to carry all of the lumber that he had gathered over the past half hour or so. "Second of all, don't call me lame-o".

"Why? Your little _girlfriend_ calls you it!".

"She's not my girlfriend!", said Lincoln, blushing. "And besides, Ronnie Anne is actually nice to me, so I really couldn't care less about what she calls me. _You,_ on the other hand, have been acting _horrible_ to me!".

" _I've_ been acting horrible? _You're_ the one who broke our model house! You're the one who recording us for your stupid school contest! You're the one who released _skunks_ in the house! Lincoln, you're _always_ messing up!".

"So you think starting a _war_ is the best way to teach me a lesson?".

"Yes! At this point, we're past the point of anything else".

 _I knew being paired with Luan would be a disaster_ , thought the boy. "Hey, are you even sure you know where we're going? I swear, we've passed this big tree at least three times".

"There are hundreds of "big trees", dummy. Just keep moving forward, we'll get there soon".

 _We better_ , thought Lincoln, looking up at the sky. The sun was starting to set.

* * *

"Room: Clean!" said Lisa, excited that her robot had managed to clean the entire houseboat in less than ten minutes.

Lola sat on the kitchen counter, sipping a juice box. She sucked up the last few drops of juice, crushed the box with a single hand, and threw the trash on the ground. Lisa's CleanBot (patent pending) quickly drove over to the empty juice box and sucked it up. "Not bad!" said the pageant diva, impressed.

"Thank you, it only took me a few hours to develop-".

"Not the robot, Lisa. I was talking about my juice. I usually like apple, but this new tropical berry flavor really hit the spot!".

"Oh", said the junior scientist.

"But," said Lola, looking at Lisa's disappointed expression. "It's pretty crazy you were secretly able to set this bot up in just one night". This time, Lola's compliment actually was directed to her sister, and not juice.

"Thank you, my sibling". Lisa smiled. Although she didn't really care for mushy emotional stuff, it was pretty nice to get a compliment every now and then.

"Anyway," said Lola, getting back on topic. "Now that we have some time alone, it's time to talk business".

"Indeed", said Lisa. "First of all, your sibling pairing plan went well. Our parental units didn't suspect a thing".

Lola nodded.

"Second of all, I can't believe you managed to get Lori to break up with Bobby. That mustn't have been easy".

Lola shook her head. "It wasn't. Just like when we tried to convince Dad to buy a new van, I went subliminal. I couldn't just say to Lori's face that she'd be better if she just left Bobby for a week".

"Do you think there's any chance that Bobby would willingly take back Lori after this camping trip? I don't know much about teenage relationships, but I do know that it's not usually healthy to leave your partner, even for a short amount of time".

"Of course it's not healthy," she said. "Lori is committing herself a lot to this war, even more than I thought she would… it's not like her, is it?".

The junior scientist shook her head. "No, it's not. There must be more going on here than meets the eye. I'll monitor her closely, and even see if I can hack into her phone to see what her and her Boo-Boo Bear have been going through for past couple of months".

Lola turned around, and looked out the window. She sighed. "Besides," she said. "When we get back home, Bobby won't be able to get back with Lori, even if he wanted to. He won't have the choice, and I've made sure of that".

Lisa tilted her head, confused. "What do you mean by that?".

Lola shook her head. "I won't go into the details now, but let's just say I made a pretty important phone call… it might be the cruelest thing I've done this war, but I fear it was the only thing I could do in this situation".

Lisa frowned. "Oh…".

Lola turned around once again, now facing her sister. "Anyway, let's talk business. Are you ready to go over my strategy for this camping trip?".

Lisa smiled. "You know I am".

* * *

The flames of the campfire licked at the wood that Luan and Lincoln had spent so long. It was dark now, and the two siblings were more or less lost. It was much harder to look for the campsite at night, so Lincoln suggested that the two just slept and waited for the morning. At first, Luan dismissed Lincoln's idea as stupid. As it got darker, however, she eventually reluctantly agreed.

Lincoln sat on the ground, looking into the blaze. It gave him the warmth that he so desperately needed on a cold northern night. Luan, on the other hand, sat far away from the fire. Even though she was cold, the comedian refused to be near her brother after the constant arguing that they engaged in while in search of suitable firewood.

"Luan… why do you hate me?".

The sudden break of silence surprised the comedian. She looked up at her brother. He was looking back at her, but he didn't seem to be angry with her; he'd cooled off since their fight on the walk. Lincoln simply looked confused.

"Well," said Luan, anger still present in her voice. "It's like I said. You're selfish, cruel, and need to be taught a lesson".

Just like that, Lincoln was angry again. Selfish? Cruel? It's not like Luan didn't know any better; those were absurd statements. Really, the worst thing that Lincoln ever did was upload embarrassing videos of his sisters, but even then, he made up for it by uploading much more embarrassing videos of himself. After that, all of his sisters, including Luan, had forgiven him. He was no expert, but Lincoln knew there was more going on here.

"But that was all in the past!", he shot back. "And, it's not like I'm the only one who makes mistakes! The whole family does!".

Luan groaned. "Don't give me _this_ again, Lincoln".

 _What_? Was she for real? Lincoln knew that his sister was smart enough to know he really didn't have any lesson to learn, and this conversation had made his belief in that solid. Still, why did she insist on torturing him? In that moment, for once during the war, Lincoln knew that he needed to work _with_ Luan to solve their problems.

"Luan…" he said calmly. "I love you".

The comedian was taken aback by this. What was Lincoln getting at?

"Ever since I was young, you've always cheered me up when I felt down", he continued. "You clowned for me at my birthday parties. You cheered me up whenever I got hurt. You gave me a joke whenever I asked for one". Lincoln chuckled. "But…", he said, his voice getting softer. "What changed?".

The question was simple, yet as soon as Lincoln had asked it, Luan flinched. Her brother was bringing up bad memories, one the comedian desperately wanted to keep buried deep down.

"Okay, _I ADMIT IT_!" yelled Luan, standing up quickly.

Lincoln flinched at the sudden change in tone. This was definitely not what he was expecting.

"Up until now, I've kept quiet about it. I've even refused to admit it to myself". Luan, now standing, covered her face with her hands in an act of shame.

"Lincoln…" she said. "Ever since I started comedy, I've inspired lots of laughter and joy. Whenever I do, it just makes me feel _so good_ …". Luan looked up into the night sky. "But…", she continued. "Being a comedian doesn't mean all you get are laughs. Sometimes, people mock you. And, you know what? That's fine. When someone finds a joke unfunny and they laugh at me, I really couldn't care less. It's just part of the job. With all these laughs, comes some ridicule. I really couldn't care less, as long as I get to make people happy".

Lincoln looked at his sister as she gave her monologue, careful not to interrupt. The fire burned more aggressively as Luan told her story, almost as if to represent the intensity of the conversation.

"But, what _really_ gets to me… is when people _close_ to me find me unfunny. The first time I made a pun was by mistake. I was probably four or five, but I remember being at a family barbeque. Dad took a hamburger off of the grill, and handed it to me. He told me something along the lines of, 'Luan, this one looks good! Make sure no one steals it'. I remember saying, 'Okay, Dad! I'll watch out for any ham _burglars_ '. It was stupid, I know. I wasn't even trying to make anyone laugh, I just thought of a pun and said it. But, as soon as I made the stupid hamburger joke, the entire family laughed! In that moment, I felt _amazing_. On top of the world. Unstoppable. _Liked_ ". Luan paused, reflecting on the moment.

Lincoln was too young to remember the barbeque, but he did recall Luan mentioning getting her first big laugh when he was walking home with her from a party. Things were starting to click.

"As time went on, I become more passionate about puns. I even studied it- I read books, I watched comedy routines, and I paid attention to what makes people laugh. Eventually, I branched out into other types of comedy. Puns, jokes, juggling, miming, clowning, you name it. I wanted to learn more, so I could make people laugh more". Luan had an ambitious look in her eyes, remembering her roots in comedy. "And, for awhile, everything was great. My friends laughed, my family laughed, and I even started getting the attention of some boys". Luan blushed. "Of course, I was too young at the time to even start thinking about that kind of stuff".

Lincoln continued to stay silent as he listened to his sister speak.

"Then, one day, I told a pun to Lori. I don't even remember what it was, but it was one of my best. As soon as I said it, though, she just _groaned_. No laugh, no chuckle, nothing! Just a groan! I tried to ignore it at first. I even tried telling her a new pun; still, Lori just groaned in annoyance. 'Can I just go back to texting Bobby?', was all she said. I was devastated. Sure, some kids at school have said some pretty mean things about my comedy, but this was my _sister._ I couldn't believe I was unable to make her laugh! Thankfully, I managed to brush it off". Luan felt like a lump was growing in her throat. It was hard for her to bring up these memories after she had suppressed them for so long.

She had a point. Lincoln thought about it, and nine times out of ten, when Luan made a pun to her siblings, they usually just groaned. In fact, they _never_ laughed. Things continued to click in Lincoln's head. No _wonder_ Luan had acted so cruel on April Fools! No _wonder_ she made him carry the party supplies to the city for no reason, and then fought him.

Of course, this was partly his fault. He, like the rest of his siblings, simply groaned whenever Luan tried to make them laugh. Lincoln thought nothing about it. Looking back now, however, he could see that he usually came off pretty jerkish whenever Luan tried to make him laugh.

"I thought it would stop after that one time, but boy, was I wrong". Luan sniffled, trying to keep herself together. "From that point forward, whenever I tried to make one of my siblings laugh, all you guys did was groan and act annoyed. It happened slowly at first, but it became more and more frequent". Luan sniffled again, this time louder. "A-And now, it's at the point where I can _never_ make any of my sisters or you to laugh! I t-try everyday, pun after pun, joke after joke! _Nothing_ works! It's almost like I spent my whole life studying c-comedy for n-n- _nothing!_ ". The inevitable had happened; Luan began to sob. Previously standing, the comedian fell to her knees, covering her eyes.

Luan felt an arm wrap around her. Surprised, she looked to her side, and sure enough, Lincoln was trying to comfort her.

"Luan…" he said. "I'm sorry … but, pranking us like you do on April Fools and going all out on me during the war is _not_ the way to fix this!".

"You're right… I'm a _horrible_ sister!".

"What? No!", said Lincoln, holding Luan tighter. "It's not like that… you've just been going about this the wrong way". Lincoln thought now would be the perfect time to recite his favorite Ace Savvy quote. "But, it's never too late to start doing the right thing".

Luan wiped her eyes, and smiled. Thanks to her brother, she now knew that there was a lot of work to do.

The only sounds that the two siblings could hear were the fire crackling, and crickets chirping into the night. Their eyes grew heavy, and they fell asleep in each other's arms, under the night sky.


	15. Forest Gump

**How will the rest of the Loud children react when they find out Luan is now on Lincoln's side? Will they all reconsider the war? How will Lola take the fact that one of her best members has joined the enemy side?**

* * *

Lincoln Loud slowly opened his eyes. Gradually, he sat up in his bed. The light shined bright through his bedroom window. The window itself took up the majority of the eastern wall, so naturally, Lincoln's room became very bright with each sunrise.

"Morning, sir". Like clockwork, Markus speed walked into Lincoln's room, and set his morning coffee down on his nightstand.

Lincoln rubbed his eyes. "Mornin', Markus. How has the surgery been treating you?".

"Quite lovely, sir. It's been working wonders".

Lincoln picked up his coffee mug, and took a sip.

"Master Lincoln?".

Lincoln set down his mug. "Yes?".

"Happy birthday, sir".

Lincoln smiled. Today was his 50th birthday, quite the milestone.

"And, Master Lincoln, I do hope you've remembered that you have company today?".

Lincoln dropped his mug. It hit the ground and shattered, littering shards of mug and coffee all over the expensive bedroom carpet.

"Oh, dear! I'm terribly sorry to have frightened you, sir". Markus quickly ran over to a nearby closet, pulled out a towel and dustpan, and quickly got to work cleaning up the mess that Lincoln had made. The servant was a frail old man, with a tan complexion. He had plenty of grey in his hair, showing his age. Despite his age, Markus was very athletic. He used the workout room every day, keeping himself in shape. He was one of the first helpers that Lincoln had hired.

"Oh, it's not your fault, Markus. It's just…". The man sighed. "Well, it's just been so long since I've seen any of my family".

Lincoln recalled his past. After he had submitted his comic to the Ace Savvy meet-the-creator contest, he and his sisters had a chance to meet Bill Buck. Ace was Lincoln's favorite fictional character growing up, so naturally, he was ecstatic when he got to meet the creator of it. It was all thanks to his original comic, _The Full House Gang_. It had beaten out the contest competition in a landslide. Because of that, the boy had been able to strike up a deal with the comic company representing Mr. Buck. He'd continue to create new issues of his original comic, and receive a healthy payout in the process. For a 5th grader, Lincoln had made it big.

But, that was only the start to his career. After his massive success with _The Full House Gang_ , Lincoln continued to draw new comic editions, with his sisters and family serving as inspiration. Throughout middle school and especially high school, Lincoln continued to build upon the universe that he created in 5th grade. He sent his work to Bill Buck's company, who paid him healthily. The boy had managed to become more or less of a celebrity in the comic book industry.

After graduating high school, Lincoln's parents told him that he had a choice to make. Option one was that he could go to college, or option two was that he could simply float off of his successful comic. The ladder didn't sound like a bad idea. After all, by that point, Lincoln had made almost one million dollars, and the future was looking bright. Lincoln surprised his parents and picked an option that they had not suggested; he would start his own comic company.

And so, he did. The day that Lincoln attended his high school graduation was the day that he founded 'LC', also known as Loud Comics. Without ever going to college, and with no experience to speak of in business, Lincoln started rough. Despite the fact that he was very young and new to the art of business, Lincoln eventually got the hang of things. He had bought back the rights to his own comic, _The Full House Gang_. The title had enough reputation and a large enough fanbase to carry the company in its early years. In addition, Lincoln himself had come up with a few fresh comic ideas and hired some skilled artists to help him produce new issues.

A few years into LC's life as a company, and the comic industry had started to move into computer generated comics. Despite this, Lincoln held firm onto his belief in hand drawn comics like the ones he had enjoyed as a child. Fans appreciated this, and only a decade after its creation, Loud Comics eventually became the biggest comic company in the world. By that point, LC had employed thousands of people, and owned hundreds of original comic titles. By then, Lincoln had many millions of dollars. He invented his money outside of the comic industry, hungry for more wealth. The man went through rough patches, but overall, he had made a very successful career for himself. Lincoln spent long days working, and returned home only to fall asleep, eat breakfast, then drive back to his office building. Although it was stressful, he enjoyed his job. Unfortunately, it came with some negative implications. He visited his family back in Royal Woods less and less, and phone calls became less frequent.

Now, in his middle age, Lincoln had slowed down on work. If he needed something done, he did it from his home office. He had plenty of time to at least call his family now, but could never build of the courage to do so after he had more or less cut ties with them twenty years ago. One day, after going through an old photo album, Lincoln finally decided it was time for a much overdue family reunion. Because his 50th birthday was coming up, Lincoln had invited his parents and sisters over to his mansion for the weekend.

That day was today.

By now, Markus had finished cleaning up the broken coffee mug. "Sir, should I call down to the kitchen? Are you feeling up for some breakfast?".

Lincoln nodded. "Sure, I'll eat after I take a quick jog. I need a moment to collect my thoughts".

Markus nodded. "Of course, sir". With that, he left the room, closing the bedroom door behind him.

Lincoln stretched, and walked over to the window. He looked out at his vast backyard. For miles, all he could see was well trimmed, rolling plains. Of course, all this land had not come cheaply. For Lincoln, however, his mansion and 10,000 acres that came with it barely put a dent in his massive fortune.

The man sighed. Previously wearing his expensive night robe, Lincoln got dressed in his workout attire. He opened his bedroom door, walked down the long upstairs hallway, and made his way down the grand staircase. As he made his trip, Lincoln's many servants worked around him. He saw them cleaning, dusting, vacuuming— everything that needed to be done before his family visited for his birthday later that day. It would be the first time they'd see him in many years, and he wanted his house to be spotless for the occasion.

Now standing in front of the main entrance, Lincoln took a deep breath, and opened the door. He ran outside, and started his usual morning jog. The man was never a fan of exercising as a child, but Lincoln came to love jogging in his older age. It was nice to get some fresh air, and it was a good break from his stressful days in his office. Even though he didn't work as much as he used to, it was still nice to take a break from the constant phone calls and number crunching that he endured on a daily basis.

As Lincoln ran farther down his path, he decided to do something new. Usually, when he came near the wooded area of his property, he took a left and continued down his jogging path. Feeling the need for a change in scenery, however, the man decided to take a right for once. He went into the woods, following no path, but running only where the trees allowed him to do so. This went on for a good forty five minutes. The woods gradually became thicker, and Lincoln gradually ran faster.

Just when he thought he had had enough, and was about to turn around, Lincoln saw an opening at the end of the woods. Instead of turning around, the man continued running forward, curious as to what was outside of the forest. Soon enough, he came out of the wooded area, and onto a sidewalk. For the first time since the start of his jog, Lincoln stopped. The man looked around at his surroundings. He appeared to be in some type of suburb. Lincoln stood on a sidewalk. Medium sized houses were on the other side of the street. Lincoln was obviously outside of his gated community, now.

 _How far did I run?_ The man scratched his head. Before he could ponder the question, however, Lincoln heard a yell.

"Hey! _Watch out!_ ".

The entrepreneur looked to his left, where he had heard the cry come from. A middle-aged woman with brown hair stuck back in a ponytail was riding a bike at full speed toward him. Lincoln must have ran out right in her path before stopping his run. The bike was coming closer to him, going too fast to stop. Just before Lincoln was about to jump out of the way, he looked at the face of the woman.

"Wait… _Lynn?_ ".

 _CRASH!_

* * *

Lincoln quickly sat up from the dirt ground. "Wh- What?". The looked around him, panicking. It was morning, and he was in the middle of the woods. The fire in front of him had died down. He was sitting next to Luan. Lincoln shivered; it was a cold, northern morning. The boy rubbed his head in confusion.

It was a dream. All of it. His mansion, his morning jog, and his unexpected encounter with Lynn; everything had simply been a figment of his unconscious imagination. He was still eleven years old, on vacation in upstate New York. Lincoln shook his head, trying to come to his senses. _That was one heck of a nightmare_ , he thought. For some sudden and unexplained reason, in that moment, Lincoln could feel butterflies in his stomach. He felt… nervous. Not because he didn't know exactly where his family was at the moment, but because of the dream. Lincoln felt uneasy as he thought about what it could have meant.

In his gut, his instincts told him that one thing was for certain; this wasn't the last time he would be having that dream.

"Lincoln," said his sister, seeing that her brother had awakened. "Now that we have some daylight, we really need to start looking for the camp again. Our family is probably worried sick about us".

The boy nodded in agreement. He stood up, and brushed himself off. He ran his hands through his hair, picking small pieces of wood out of it. Whenever he slept outside, for some odd reason, twigs and leaves managed to find their way into his hair and get stuck.

"Well, let's get a move on", said the comedian, already starting to walk into the woods. "We have daylight now, so it should be a bit easier to find the camp. The rest of the family is probably worried sick about us right now".

Lincoln quickly followed her. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

The water started to boil. Lynn Loud poured in one, then three, then five boxes of macaroni and cheese into the pot. With a wooden spoon in her hand, the athlete began to stir the macaroni in the water. This morning, she was on breakfast duty.

Lola walked up to her. "Don't forget, Lynn! I don't like my macaroni with cheese".

Lana, who was poking an anthill with a stick, chimed in. "That means I get her extra cheese!".

Lincoln was usually the one to prepare breakfast for the twins. Obviously, that wasn't the case this morning. He and Luan were lost in the woods. Last night, their family had searched for them. Unfortunately, it was too hard to find anyone in the dark. The hunt would continue this morning, right after breakfast.

"Oh, no! No, no, no!" Rita paced back and forth, clearly very nervous. Two of her children were lost in the woods, so obviously, the mother was very concerned. "Hurry up with your breakfast, kids! Once it's ready, just grab it and eat it on the way. We don't have time to waste! They could be anywhere out there! Oh, why did I let them go alone?".

By now, each Loud child held a bowl of hastily made macaroni and cheese in their hand. They began to gather around the center of the camp, as their father had instructed them to do each morning. That way, the family would have time to go over the agenda for the day.

Now that the Louds (with the exception of Lincoln and Luan, of course) were gathered around and sitting in a circle in the center of their camp, Lynn Sr. stood up to address the family.

"I know it may be difficult to cope with the fact that two of your siblings are missing, but don't panic. I'm sure they just got lost while searching for firewood and decided to spend the night in the woods. With any luck, they're not too far away from the camp. Now, if we're going to find them, we'll need to split up into pairs of three. I want-".

Suddenly, the father of 11 halted his speech. Something could be heard coming nearby from the woods.

"I told you one hundred times, Luan!" We already passed this rock!".

"Yeah, well, it's not like I'd ever listen to _you_. You read comics in your _underwear!_ ".

The indistinguishable sound of Lincoln and Luan arguing could suddenly be heard, clear as day. Without saying a word, the Louds that had previously been sitting in the center of the camp shot up and ran out to where they had heard the voices come from. Sure enough, a few meters into the woods, they found the two missing members of the Loud family.

"Lincoln! Luan! Thank God we found you!". Upon seeing the rest of their family, Lincoln and Luan ran to embrace them in a big group hug.

When the family finally broke apart, Lynn Sr. asked the obvious question. "Where _were_ you two?!".

"We were just looking for firewood and got lost," said Luan. "We couldn't find you at night, so we just camped out for the night".

The father sighed. "Obviously, it was a bad idea to go out as far as you did. Still, I'm glad you were able to find your way back. You two really make a good team".

Luan frowned. " _What?_ We'd never have gotten lost if _Stinkcoln_ over here was so picky about what logs we took back!".

Lincoln's expression became angry. "It's _my_ fault? _You're_ the one who made me carry ten logs at once! They were stacked so high in my hands, I couldn't see where I was even going!".

As the two went back in fourth in their argument, Lola frowned in confusion. _Odd_ , she thought. _I thought for sure that the two of them being alone for that long would bring them at least a bit closer together_.

As he argued with Luan, Lincoln saw Lola cross her arms in confusion. He tried his best not to smile as he continued his staged argument with the family comedian. _Just as planned,_ he thought. _Lola's not as smart as she thinks. Now, Luan knows who's right in this war. She'll be the perfect double agent._

 _Lola won't know what hit her._


	16. Playing with Fire

**Lincoln's dream last chapter may have been a bit random, but in time, it will become an important part of the story as it is elaborated and expanded on. Also, a lot of people seem to like the backstory I gave to Luan. There will be some backstory for a different character this chapter as well, and it's probably not who you expect.**

* * *

Leni sat on the end of the lake dock, her feet dangling off the edge as she happily kicked them back and forth in the air. She held a fishing rod that was cast into the water. Her father had told her that she should go fishing with Lori, and Leni cheerfully accepted the offer. It wasn't often that she had one on one time with any of her siblings, and even though she shared a room with her, it was far too rare that Leni was able to have a conversation with the oldest Loud sibling. Lori was usually on her phone or busy yelling at her other siblings.

Like clockwork, Leni could hear footsteps coming up behind her on the dock. She looked back, and saw Lori walking over to her, fishing pole in hand. "Uhm, Leni?" Lori asked. "Why are you holding your fishing rod like that?".

Leni looked down at her fishing pole. She held onto the string, so that the wooden part of the rod was in the water.

"Uhh, nevermind". Lori sat down on the dock next to her sister. She held back her fishing rod, then cast it out into the lake. "So, what's up?".

Leni continued to look into the water, wondering why she wasn't getting any nibbles. "There weren't many clouds today, but I did see a plane fly by earlier".

 _I fell right into that, didn't I?_ Lori sighed. "No, Leni. I mean, what's going on? Is there anything you want to talk about? We have a couple hours of fishing time, so we might as well pass the time by talking. Dad took away my phone so I'd have a conversation with you while we fish".

Leni put her hand to her chin. After a moment of thinking, she nodded. "Yeah, how do you think Linky is feeling? I mean, Luan and him still were fighting after they got lost in the woods overnight. I mean, isn't stuff like that supposed to bring people _together?_ ".

Lori shook her head in disagreement. "I wouldn't say so. I mean, I'd probably literally go crazy if I had to spend the night in the woods with no blanket or sleeping bag".

Leni tugged at her string, still confused as to why she was having no success fishing. The wooden pole of the fishing rod bounced in the water as Leni pulled the fishing pole string up and down.

Lori looked at her sister struggling to hold her fishing rod properly. She sighed. "Here, Leni," she said, scootching closer to help. "You hold it like _this_ ". Lori pulled the string up, pulling the fishing rod out of the water. She grabbed the wooden handle, and put it in Leni's hands. " _Now_ , you can cast it".

Leni held back the fishing rod, then cast it into the water. The hook made it decently far out into the lake.

"Not bad, sis". Lori smiled. Her younger sister could be a bit ditzy sometimes. Nonetheless, Leni was always willing to help out anyone in the family, so it was nice to return the favor to her every once and awhile; even if it was doing something as simple as rotating a fishing pole.

Leni smiled. "Oh, _that's_ why I was having so much trouble. Thanks, Lori".

"No problem, Leni". Lori smiled as well. It felt good to get along with Leni.

"And, Lori?"

"Yeah?".

"I don't want to make you angry or anything, but what's going on with Bobby? Why exactly did you break up with him? I mean, whenever I see you, you're usually talking to him or texting him. What changed?".

Lori's smile quickly faded. How _dare_ Leni bring up Bobby like that. What did _she_ know about her relationship? "Sometimes, a man needs to be taught a lesson. I'm only spending a week apart from him, after all. Besides, you guys are always telling me how obsessed I am with him, but as soon as I leave him, you tell me I'm having boyfriend issues?".

Leni frowned. She had done just what she feared she would do; anger her older sister. "Oh, Lori! I'm not trying to offend you or anything, I was just wondering what was going on with you and Bobby". Leni was now in damage control mode, already regretting bringing up the sore subject.

Lori scoffed. "Oh, _I_ know what it is. You think I can't get back with Bobby after I took a break from him, don't you?".

"Uhm, no? I never said anything about you not being able to make up with him-".

Leni was cut off. "Well, I'll prove you wrong! I'll call as soon as we get back to the camp, and everything will be fine! He'll learn his lesson about being too controlling, and we'll be back together again like nothing even happened".

Leni shook her head. Lori had something to prove now, and there was no stopping her.

* * *

Lynn's sprint came to a halt as she stopped in her tracks. She turned around, seeing how far away her siblings were. All she saw behind her was an empty trail. _Whoops_ , she thought. _Guess I went a bit too fast for them_. Lynn turned around and jogged back the other way. Eventually, she met back up with Lincoln, Luna, and Luan, whom she had been hiking with. Of course, until she went too fast and left them behind without knowing.

"Lynn," said Lincoln, panting. "This is a hike through the woods, not a marathon".

"Yeah dude, cool your jets" said Luna.

Lynn shrugged. "Sorry, guys. What can I say? I'm Lynn Loud! An eight mile hike is nothing for me.

"Well, an uphill hike through the woods isn't nothing for us," said Luan. "In fact, all this walking is making my legs feel a bit _wooden!_ " Luan laughed at her own joke. "Get it?".

Lincoln smiled. "Yup!".

"Pretty funny stuff, dudette!", said Luna.

The four siblings continued up the trail, laughing and chattering all along the way. Eventually, they came to the top of the hill. It overlooked the forest below.

Lynn gasped. "Whoa! This view is amazing".

"Tell me about it!", said Luna, looking off into the distance.

Lincoln bend over, with his hands on his knees. He was panting. "Y-Yeah, it's p-pretty nice". He took in a deep breath, recovering from the 8 miles he had just hiked uphill. Lincoln stood up. "But, remember, we came all the way up here for more than just sightseeing. Now that we have some privacy, it's time to talk about Lola".

Luna nodded. "If all goes well, we can put an end to this war before the camping trip ends. Then, we'll at least be able to enjoy the rest of it".

There was a silent agreement amount the sisters.

"Anyway," said Lincoln. "I have no idea what Lola is planning. So, the best thing to do is for us to make the first strike before she does". Lincoln paused to let his siblings reflect on the idea.

"Sounds good," said Lynn. "But what will we even do? I mean, it's going to be pretty hard with Mom and Dad watching us the whole time".

"Right," agreed Lincoln. "But, they can't watch all eleven of us at the same time. Especially if there's a distraction".

Luan smiled. As the self described master of distractions, she liked where this conversation was going. " _Go onnn_ ", she cooed.

Lincoln puffed out his chest, swelling with pride. "I came up with a pretty detailed plan, but I'm going to need all of you to help out if you want this to work. If all goes well, we can beat Lola at her own game, and put an end to this war once and for all!".

* * *

It was noon, and Lori was alone in the houseboat. Leni was still fishing. Luan, Lincoln, Lynn, and Luna were on a hike. Lola and Lisa had left to go bird watching. The Loud parents were outside relaxing around the campfire with Lily. Lana had gone down to the lake to find an alligator the wrestle, and Lucy left with her in case the alligator happened to also be a zombie.

The eldest Loud child paced back and forth across the blue living room carpet, holding her phone. It rang and rang, but no one bothered to pick up. _What the hell is going on?_ , thought Lori angrily. _Even when we fought in the past, Bobby would never ignore my calls_. In that moment, a horrible thought passed through Lori's head. Anger quickly turned to concern. _Could Bobby be in danger?_ The teen quickly dismissed the idea as far-fetched. There was probably a simple explanation. Bobby could be grounded from his phone, or maybe he was just busy at the store he helped manage.

Lori plopped down on the living room couch, trying to forget about her worries. But, despite her best efforts, she couldn't help herself continue pondering the subject. _No, that can't be right_ , she thought. Lori knew that it was Sunday, and Bobby had the day off. Moreover, for as long as she knew him, Bobby _never_ got in trouble enough to warrant his phone being taken away from him.

Lori started to chew her nails, something she only did when she was extremely nervous or anxious. _I can't take this anymore!_ The teen shot up from the couch, grabbed the Vanzilla keys from off of the houseboat wall, and ran outside to the family car.

Just as she was opening the door, her father yelled to her from the firepit. "Lori!" he said. "What are you doing, kiddo?".

"No time to explain, Dad! I need to take a trip back to Michigan!".

Lynn Sr. stood up from the folding chair he had previously been enjoying himself in. " _What?_ Why?".

"It's Bobby! He's not picking up his phone or responding to any of my texts… I think there's something wrong!". Lori opened the car door, and started to get inside Vanzilla.

The father of 11 ran over to the car. "Whoa, whoa! Slow down there, Lori! You can't go all the way back to Michigan! Do you know how much that will cost in gas? Besides, the trip will take over a day just getting there! We're here as a _family_ , Bobby can wait until _after_ our trip!".

Lori sighed. It was no use. She was trying to do something pretty dramatic, sure, but it was for a good reason! Who knows what was wrong with Bobby? Who could be in danger!

Still, the teen had no choice. "Okay, Dad". She reluctantly left the car.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way, but we're too far away from home right now. I'm sure whatever drama you're in can wait until we're done here".

As Lori slowly walked back to the houseboat to hang the van keys back up, she plotted. _This is just too important to wait!_

Now inside, Lori hung up the car keys. A smile spread across her face.

 _Tonight, I'll sneak out and drive back home. Bobby_ needs _me!_

* * *

Ronnie Anne happily ate her favorite cereal, getting ready to enjoy her Sunday. Although she usually hated mornings, the Hispanic girl was in a good mood. She had the entire day to herself. No school, no responsibilities; just an entire day of relaxation. Ronalda picked up her spoon to take a bite of zombie bran, but just then, the apartment doorbell rang. Figuring it was a delivery or a visitor, Ronnie Anne ran downstairs to answer the door. As soon as she opened it, she was greeted with three muscular men. At first, the girl thought that they were police officers.

"Hello, ma'am", the man in the middle said. "We'd like to speak to your mother".

Nervous, the Hispanic girl led the men upstairs. Once they arrived in the living room, Ronnie Anne's mother dropped the bowl of cereal in her hands that she had prepared for CJ. Because of his down syndrome, Ronalda's mother often helped the boy out with various things. The bowl fell to the ground, shattering, and spilling milk and cereal all over the kitchen floor.

"Maria Santiago?", said one of the men. All three of the visitors had the words "Police - ICE" printed on the back of their vests.

"T-that's me," said Ronnie Anne's mother. She was obviously very nervous, more so than Ronnie Anne had ever seen her before. Her mother was usually very level headed and caring, and it was rare for her to act like this. What was going on?

"As you may know, we're here from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We've recently received an anonymous phone call. As we understand, you are staying in this country on the count of a worker visa. Correct?".

Maria nodded slowly, too choked up to speak.

"May I see that visa, ma'am?".

Maria nodded again. "L-let me g-grab it…". She walked over to her room.

By now, the entire Casagrande family had gathered in the living room. The older family members, including Bobby, appeared to be very nervous with the presence of the new visitors. No one dared utter a word.

Ronalda walked over to her older brother. "Bobby?" she whispered, concerned. "What's going on?".

Bobby smiled, trying his best to act calm. He placed his hands on his little sister's shoulders. "These men are from ICE. They take people out of the country that are here illegally. But, we should be fine. Mom's visa won't expire for another two years. By then, her application will be accepted, and she'll become a citizen".

The Santiago boy spoke calmly, but Ronnie Anne could tell that he was fearful as well.

Just then, Maria ran out of her bedroom holding a lamp.

" _You can't take us away! I built a life here!_ " She charged at the three men, ready to hit them with the lamp.

" _Stand down!_ " The officers pulled out their tasers, and pointed it at the Santiago mother.

Still, she continued her charge.

The Casagrande family, Ronnie Anne, and Bobby all let out a scream as they watched what unfolded in front of them.

The officer in the middle fired his taser. Ronnie Anne looked away in horror.

Once hit, Maria came to a halt as electricity raced through her body. After being shocked, she fell to the ground, unable to move. The lamp she was planning to use as a weapon hit the ground, shattering upon impact.

The officers quickly ran over to Maria, and handcuffed her.

"Remain calm, everybody!", said the second officer, trying to quell the panic in the room.

Ronnie Anne ran over to her mother as the handcuffs were being put on around her hands.

"Mama! What's going on?!".

Maria couldn't bare to look into her daughter's eyes.

" _Mi hija…_ " she said. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, but I'm only in this country to work as a nurse. My visa expired two years ago, but I wouldn't dare bring you back to Mexico. Now, the law caught up with us".

Ronnie Anne's eyes widened. When she first moved to the city to live with her extended family, she thought that life as she knew it was over. She would go to a new school, she would have to make new friends, and her backyard would become a fire escape. Still, even though it was difficult, she had adjusted to her new life and came to enjoy it. But, now, she would be ripped away from her life _again_? And this time, in a new country?

Tears formed in the Hispanic girl's eyes. "No… _mama_ … this can't be real!".

Maria shook her head in shame. "I'm so sorry sweetie, but we don't have any other option. Me, you, and Bobby are going back to Mexico. It won't be so bad. You of all people are able to adjust, right?".

"No! This is different! Where are we even going to stay?!".

By now, Maria had been brought to her feet by the officers. Despite how she had just tried to attack them, the men were gentle with her.

"Well," said the Santiago mother, her voice trembling with fear and uncertainty. "We're going to have to go back and live with your father".


	17. Equally Damaged

**Mixed reviews on the last chapter, as expected when dealing with a sensitive issue such as deportation. I promise that the story won't become political. Still, it is a real problem that real families face, and I don't see many people entertaining the concept of the Santiago family dealing with the issue.**

 **With that out of the way, chapter 17 continues the war back at the campgrounds. What is team Lincoln's plan for retaliation?**

* * *

Lincoln laid with his back on the ground, staring up at the sky. In less than an hour, the sun would set. By then, his counterattack would have unfolded, and he would either be successful or unsuccessful. Lincoln had been planning ever since the trip started. Just a few hours ago on his hike, he went over the plan with his allies, making sure they understood every step. Things needed to go perfectly today. He was up against Lola Loud, whom he'd never had a victory against yet. This time, Lincoln hoped that things would be different. After all, he had four sisters on his side. Not to mention, the boy had the element of surprise. Lola won't know what hit her.

Lincoln brought himself to his feet. He wiped the dust and dirt off of himself, and ran over back to the campsite. As he approached, he saw Lola and Lisa sitting around the campfire, chattering.

 _They came back at the same time I did_ , thought the boy. He _knew_ that Lola and Lisa never actually went out to go birdwatching like they said they would. The entire time, they had been following Lincoln, Lynn, Luna, and Luan on their hike earlier that day. Things were falling into place perfectly. It was time for phase two of the plan.

"Hey, you guys?", said Lincoln, approaching Lola and Lisa. "Can you do me a favor? We're running out of firewood, and I need some help getting some more for the fire".

Lola frowned. "The _last_ time you went out to get firewood, you got lost in the woods".

"It's going to be different this time," defended Lincoln. "We won't go too deep into the woods. Besides, it's not like I'm going to get lost twice!".

Lisa adjusted her glasses. "Our male sibling has a point. I suppose we can help him with his trivial task".

Lola thought about it. Any other day, she would have said no. After all, why would she bother getting all dirty just to help Lincoln with something he could manage himself? Still, if she went to the woods with Lincoln, the pageant princess knew that she'd be able to give him a hard time. Lola thought about the possibilities. She could 'accidentally' drop heavy logs on his feet, be extra picky about the type of wood that was allowed to go in the fire to annoy Lincoln, and even possibly take him deep into the woods so that he'd get lost. After all, it would be pretty embarrassing for him to lose himself in the forest _twice_.

The pageant powerhouse sat up from the folding chair she had been previously sitting on. "Sure, why not?" she said, smiling.

"Great!" said Lincoln, clapping his hands. "Let's get going!".

The three Loud siblings ventured into the woods. As soon as they entered the treeline, Lincoln picked up a medium-sized piece of wood. "This one looks good, right?".

Lola shook her head. "Hard pass. It's too lumpy! That thing isn't going in _my_ campfire!".

Lincoln sighed. "Okay, then. We'll just have to go a bit deeper in the woods".

As time passed, Lincoln and his two little sisters made it decently far into the wooded area of their campsite.

The boy picked up another log. "Does this one meet your standards, Lola?".

The pageant princess walked over to examine the log. Before she could even reach Lincoln, however, a battle cry could be heard from overhead.

" _Ahhhhhh!_ "

Lola looked up, and saw Lynn on top of a large tree branch. She was holding what appeared to be a giant container. It was tipped upside down, and the contents were already spilled out. Before she could move even a step, Lola saw a giant mass of white substance hurling down at her. It was glue! If it made contact with her, her expensive dress would be ruined! Not to mention, she would have to spend _days_ trying to get all of the glue out of her beautiful hair.

Lola quickly pulled an umbrella out that she had hidden under her dress. In the nick of time, she was able to open it, shielding herself from the oncoming glue. As the white substance made contact with the top of the umbrella, Lola had to strengthen her grip on the handle due to the sudden weight that pressed down on her. Still, she was able to protect herself from getting sticky.

Lola looked upward, in case Lynn had anything else prepared to drop on her. Instead, her eye caught Luna and Luan. They were on a different tree branch, and also holding a large bucket. Given her position, Lola saw that if they emptied the contents, it would fall right onto Lisa, who had been watching everything unfolding in front of her in awe.

"Lisa!", yelled Lola. "Watch out!".

The pageant powerhouse ran over to Lisa, umbrella still in hand. She had been just in time, too. Glue once again pounded the top of the umbrella.

"Your little attack _failed_ , Lincoln!". Lola laughed out in glee. "We heard all about your little glue plan when you went on your hike. We were following you the whole time, stupid!".

Lola looked at her brother, ready to savor his sweet face of defeat. However, what she saw surprised her. Lincoln was… smiling?

In that moment, Lola felt a sudden wave of heat run through her. It felt like hundreds of bees had suddenly entered her body, and were flying around in a frenzy. Needless to say, this was not a comfortable feeling. Moreover, it was _hot_. Lola felt like she had fallen into a pit of molten Lava.

After a solid three seconds of this unbearable feeling, it stopped. The pageant princess stumbled backward, before falling onto the ground. Lola instinctively tried standing back up, but still in a state of pain, stumbled backward again and fell back to the ground.

In his hands, Lincoln held one of Luan's prank buzzers. It was on the highest setting, and he had used it on Lola's umbrella. It worked surprisingly well for being just a gag toy.

By now, Lynn, Luan, and Luna had climbed down from the trees they had been hiding in. Everyone looked at their sister on the ground.

Lisa ran over to her big sister. She kneeled down next to her, and frantically shook her back and forth.

" _Lola!_ ", cried the little scientist. "Speak to me!".

Lola groaned, and rubbed her eyes. She was fine, save for the fact that she had just experienced 1st-degree burns and was now covered in ash, dirt, and mud. Parts of her dress were scarred black from the buzzer.

Lynn looked over at Lincoln.

"You _lied_ to us, Lincoln! You never said that you'd _electrocute_ her!".

Lincoln felt a knot in his stomach. This was _not_ how he expected his sisters to react to his counter-attack.

"If I told you guys my full plan, then Lola would have heard it!". Lincoln tried his best to defend himself. He had angered three of his older sisters, and it would _not_ be good if they left his side of the war. "I needed her to think that we'd only be pouring glue on her. I wouldn't be able to shock her if she never took out an umbrella!".

Luna crossed her arms. "You were dishonest with us, dude. Not to mention, I would have never signed up if I knew I was helping you _electrocute_ your 6-year-old sister".

Lincoln gulped. "She's been doing much worse things to me for the entire war! Remember when she was about to let a skunk scratch my face? Or when she forced me to sleep outside? Or when she made me lose my best friend?".

By now, Lola had stood up, but was struggling to stay on her feet. She was still recovering from the buzzer attack.

Luan shook her head, in a mixture of disappointment for Lincoln and empathy for Lola. "So then why did you stoop to her level?"

"It was the only way to win!", cried Lincoln. "I thought this would put an end to the war, so we could just enjoy the rest of the camping trip. How am I the bad guy here?! Do you three not realize what I've been going through for the past _month_ because of Lola?!".

Luna shook her head. "I… I just need some time to think about this". Without saying another word, she turned around, waved her hand, and headed off.

Luan watched as her roommate walked away. "Lincoln…" she said. "I don't think we did the right thing today. I left Lola's side because _I thought you were better than her_ … I'm going to spend some time away from this war". The comedian walked off, following Luna.

Lincoln watched as two of his sisters left him. He wanted to yell out to them, to tell them he was sorry. But, he couldn't. The words wouldn't come to his mouth. Deep down, Lincoln knew they were right. He went too far this time. This was _not_ the right way to win the war.

The boy turned to his athletic sister. "Lynn…", he said. "Please… don't leave me. I messed up… but, you need to cut me some slack! I've been the victim for the past _month_. Don't walk out on me!".

Lynn shook her head. "Lola's done some pretty messed up stuff, but _we're better than her_ ". She sighed. "But, I'm not leaving you. I'd never do that!". The athlete looked over at Lola. By now, she was on her feet, and glaring daggers at Lincoln. She remained silent, but hate was evident in her eyes. Obviously, she was not going to simply forgive Lincoln. Revenge was inevitable. "Lincoln, we should get out of here. We've done enough damage for one day".

Despite the circumstances, Lincoln couldn't help but smile. Lynn was using the word 'we'. She still considered herself responsible as well, despite the fact that she had nothing to do with planning the electric shock attack. It felt so nice to have even one sister that he could count on.

The boy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's scram". He looked over to his younger sister, and felt a tinge of compassion. "Lola, do you need any help…?".

Lola said nothing. The pageant princess refused to even shake her head. Obviously, she was furious, and this sent chills up Lincoln's spine.

The boy sighed. "Lola, for what it's worth… I'm sorry. You know that I want nothing more for this war to end".

"Your apology means nothing, Lincoln Loud" Lola said coldly. "As far as I'm concerned, this war is far from over. _Clearly_ , you have yet to learn your lesson".

Lincoln gulped.

Lynn grabbed Lincoln's arm, and dragged him away from the scene of the battle. " _Let's get out of here already_ ," she whispered.

As the two jogged their way through the woods, they said nothing. Both siblings reflected on what had just happened, and neither of them had a good feeling about it.

Once back at the campsite, the two parted ways.

"I better talk to Luna and Luan. I'm sure if I explain the situation, they'll understand. I doubt it will happen, but the last thing we need is them leaving our side". The athlete started to jog off, looking for her sisters.

Lincoln started after her. "Lynn! Shouldn't I come too?".

Lynn stopped in place, and shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea right now, Lincoln. They're still pretty mad at you, remember?".

Lincoln reluctantly agreed. "I guess…".

Lynn gave a half smile. "I'll see you around, then". The family athlete waved goodbye, turned around, and resumed her jog back into the woods. This time, she would be sure to avoid Lola and Lisa.

Now in front of the houseboat, Lincoln opened the door and entered the living room. He threw himself down in the couch. A combination of drowsiness, the long hike he had done earlier that day, and the deep, gnawing feeling of regret made the boy sleepy. As he closed his eyes, he allowed sleep to overtake him.

* * *

Lincoln rubbed his head, and sat up. His vision was blurry. The man looked around at his surroundings. Half a dozen black vans were parked around him, surrounding him. Moreover, countless security guards dressed in black suits and black sunglasses scurried around the scene. Lincoln shook his head, trying to remember what had happened before he was knocked out.

 _Oh, right_ , he thought, standing up. Lincoln brushed the dirt off of himself. He remembered now. He had been taking his morning jog, when he came out of the forest and onto the sidewalk of a suburban area. Right after that, he saw Lynn riding his bike straight toward him, before being hit.

"Let me go, you weirdos!".

Lincoln looked over to where he heard the yell. Lynn was being pursued by his security guards. The man watched in horror as they tried to grab his sister, confusing her as a threat to him. Lynn was very strong, but even she could not outmatch Lincoln's expensive security detail. Lincoln quickly ran over to his sister. He held up his hand, letting his agents know that Lynn was no threat.

The security guards let go of the athlete. She stumbled forward awkwardly due to the sudden change in force. Lynn let out a yelp as she tripped. She began to fall to the ground.

Still running, Lincoln held out his arms, and caught Lynn.

"Sir!" yelled a security guard, pointing his taser at Lynn. "Please, step away from that woman! She could be a threat!".

Lynn got back on her feet, and raised an angry fist at the guard who had spoken out. " _Threat?!_ " she said, offended. "I'll show _you_ threat, you little-".

"Lynn! That's enough", cried Lincoln, grabbing Lynn's shoulders to prevent her from getting into even more trouble. "There's no need for panic", he said calmly. "This is my sister, one of the people coming to visit today".

The guards eased up, and putting away their tasers. One stepped forward.

"Of course, master Lincoln. I apologize".

" _Master_ Lincoln, huh? _Oh la la_ ", Lynn said sarcastically. Clearly, she was angry.

Lincoln turned around to face his older sister. "Lynn, I'm sorry about my guys giving you a rough time. But, you _did_ hit me head on with your bike".

"I told you to get out of the way! Besides, what's a rich boy like you doing in my neighborhood?".

Lincoln gasped. "You _live_ here? I never knew you were so close!".

Lynn frowned. "I thought it was bad enough that you didn't even live ten miles away from me, and never bothered to visit. But, what you're telling me is that you didn't even _know_ I lived this close?".

"Oh…". Lincoln looked off to the side in shame. "I'm sorry…".

Lynn shook her head in disappointment, and started to walk away.

"Lynn! Wait!". Lincoln reached out his hand, as if he could simply grab his sister and prevent her from leaving him.

Still walking, Lynn waved farewell. "I'll see you at your party, Lincoln. Goodbye".

Lincoln's sister left him stranded in a sea of guilt, regret, and pain.

* * *

Lincoln jolted upward. The boy looked around, and saw that he was still in the houseboat living room alone. He had fallen asleep on the couch.

Just then, the door opened. Lola walked in.

"Hey", she said blankly. The pageant princess walked over to the kitchen counter to grab a juice box. Lola saw Lincoln moping on the couch, feeling sorry for himself. "What's wrong?", she asked as she sipped her juice.

 _What's wrong?_ How could Lola say something like that? She knew _exactly_ what was wrong. Lincoln lost the trust of two of his sisters, all because of the stupid war that she started.

The boy looked on as Lola continued to sip her juice. Oddly enough, she seemed calm and relaxed. Less than an hour ago, she was angrier than Lincoln had ever seen her before. Was she toying with him, like a predator plays with their prey before closing in on them? This thought alone grew a rage inside of Lincoln. _This is all_ her _fault_ , he thought.

Lincoln stood up. He walked over to his sister, not uttering a word. Lola put down her juice box as she saw her brother approach.

"Uh, Lincoln?", she asked. "What are you doing?". She feared she had just angered her brother, and that he was about to strike her. This time, though, she didn't have a pot under her dress to protect her from a blow. Fearful, Lola started to slowly walk backward.

It was no use. Lincoln was now directly in front of Lola. Much to her surprise, he didn't attack her as she had predicted. Instead, he put his hands on her shoulders.

"That's it, Lola. I'm done. You win".

Lola was honestly confused. This was certainly unexpected. "Wh- what? You're giving up?", she asked.

"Yes. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. I'll be a butler at your tea parties, I'll paint your toenails— _anything_ to end this war!".

Silence filled the room as the two stared into each other's eyes. In Lola, Lincoln saw uncertainty. In Lincoln, Lola saw regret.

After what seemed like forever, but was most likely thirty seconds, Lola gave a sigh. "We have more in common than you think, Lincoln Loud".

Lincoln took his hands off of his sister's shoulders. What was Lola talking about?

"Lincoln…" she said softly. "It takes a long time to realize how truly miserable you are, and even longer to see it doesn't have to be that way".

Lola spoke in a calm tone, as to prove she had no intentions of being hostile to him. Despite the entire war, and despite all the cruel things Lola had done to him up until this point, in this moment, in this point in time, Lola Loud was honestly trying to help her brother.

She turned around, and started for the houseboat door. "You are everything wrong with you. It's not your sisters, it's not any outside influences— _You_ are you biggest problem. _It's you_ ". Lola opened the door, and turned around, ready to tell her brother one last thing before leaving. 'Lincoln… it doesn't have to be this way. Things are going to change soon, and for the better". Now, Lola spoke softly, almost whispering. Still, what she said next was the most powerful thing Lincoln had heard come out of her mouth. "When this is all over, you'll be filled with regret and guilt. But, for the first time, the family will see you for who you really are. And… you'll be happy".

With that, she turned around, and left the room.


	18. King

**As a wise reviewer put it, yes, some of the characters in this story can act out of character at points. Still, is that reason enough alone to label this a 'bad story'?**

 **As long as something is well written and entertaining, in my opinion, no amount of out of chatacterness can spoil the entire thing on its own. And, like I said earlier, as more things are revealed, people's motivations will become more clear and make more sense, making them become more in character.**

* * *

Lynn ran through the woods, looking for her two older sisters. She needed to find Luan and Luna. If she didn't talk some sense into them quick, they'd possibly leave Lincoln's side in the war. Even worse, there was a chance that they could join _Lola's_ side again. This thought alone pushed Lynn to run faster.

Just then, Lynn saw something in the distance. It was a streak of pink, standing out among the green trees and grass that made up the majority of the athlete's current field of view.

Lynn slowed down to a walk, looking to see what she had encountered. As she drew closer, Lynn saw that it was none other than Lola Loud. The pageant princess still had faint burn marks on her dress from the buzzer attack that Lincoln had put into motion just a couple of hours ago. Luckily for Lynn, Lola was facing the opposite way, and had not yet seen her. The athlete quickly tiptoed backward, and ran off again, not wanting to be seen by Lola. After all, she was probably still very angry about being electrocuted.

Lynn continued to run through the forest. Not long after, she finally found Luan and Luna. They were sitting on a fallen tree log, talking softly to one another. Lynn approached her two older sisters, careful not to startle them.

"Hey, guys", said Lynn softly.

Luan and Luna turned around to face Lynn.

"Oh, hey Lynn", they said.

Lynn gulped. It was time to make her case. She would have to choose her words very carefully if she wanted to keep the support of Luan and Luna on her side.

"Guys?" asked Lynn. "Don't you think it's a bit hypocritical for you to turn your back on Lincoln after the buzzer attack? I mean, we all helped Lola with the blitzkrieg attack on him!".

Luna sighed. "First of all, I never said I was turning my back on him. I just said that I needed some time to think about this. Second of all, what I helped in doing to him was nowhere close to _electrocuting_ anybody. Lincoln did something much more serious than I would have ever agreed to be apart of".

"Not to mention, he never told us the full plan!", added Luan. "He was dishonest with us, and now I'm going to have a hard time trusting him again".

Lynn sighed. "You guys need to get some perspective. Lincoln has been suffering for the past _month_ because of this war. All he did was fight back!".

Luna crossed her arms. "I won't be working with Lincoln if he pulls anything like this again. At this point, I just want the war to be over. I don't _care_ who wins— I just want this thing to end already!".

"Well, it won't be that easy", said Lynn angrily. "You can't just snap your fingers and have all of this be over. When Lola wants something, there's no stopping her until she gets exactly what she wants. And, she wants Lincoln to suffer. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to sit around and let that happen".

Luan shook her head. "Well… when you put it with that…" The comedian sighed. "I definitely won't be leaving Lincoln. I never even planned on leaving. I just wish he was more focused on ending the war than getting even".

Luna nodded in agreement. "Same thing here, dude. Let's go find our little bro".

* * *

Lori sat around the campfire with Lucy and Lana. At the moment, the rest of the Loud family was absent. Lisa, Lola, Lincoln, Lynn, Luan, and Luna were all in the woods. Lori assumed that they were most likely hiking or simply exploring the vast forest. Leni was still fishing, and the Loud parents had taken Lily to the top of the nearest hill to watch the sunset.

Lucy looked up at the setting sun. "It's getting late", she said. "There's a full moon tonight. I'm going to go see if I can find a werewolf". With that, she hopped out of her folding chair, and started her walk into the woods.

Lana yawned. "I'm boooard", she complained.

Lori twirled her thumbs in her hands nervously. Time was running out, and she needed to be at the campsite alone if she wanted to put her plan into motion.

"Lana, why don't you go look for an alligator to wrestle or something?", Lori suggested.

"Hard pass. I've already done that _three_ times today!".

Lori tried to think of another way to get her little sister out of her hair, even for just a minute. A stick producing out of the ground caught the teen's attention. She reached down, and grabbed it. Next, she waved the stick back and forth in the air.

This caught Lana's attention. Her eyes widened as she saw the stick moving back and forth in the air.

"Want it?", asked Lori.

Lana jumped out of the chair, and approached Lori by crawling on both her hands and feet. She stuck out her tongue, and eagerly nodded.

With all of her might, Lori threw the stick far into the woods. Lana quickly chased after it, running on all fours.

Seeing her opportunity, Lori quickly ran to the houseboat. She opened the door, grabbed Vanzilla's keys, and ran to the family van. Before Lana could come back and see what she was doing, Lori put the vehicle into gear, and drove off.

Sure, she was disobeying her parents, but Bobby _needed_ her.

* * *

By now, the sun had set almost an hour ago. Lincoln walked out into the opening where his family's campsite was set up. He had previously been taking a late stroll through the woods, giving himself some alone time to collect his thoughts. When allowing himself some time to think about his electric buzzer counter-attack on Lola, Lincoln couldn't help but to be a bit angered. Luan and Luna had participated in the blitzkrieg attack on him, so why did they think it was suddenly so bad when he fought back? It was hypocritical of them.

Just then, Lincoln bumped into something. He let out a yelp of surprise as he made contact with whatever he had just walked into. In a daze, he stumbled backward, and fell on his rear end.

"Oh! Sorry, Lincoln!".

Lincoln looked up, only to see his older sister, Leni. He was so deep in thought, he didn't notice that he was heading straight into her.

Leni extended her hand to help Lincoln up. Lincoln, with the help of his sister, brought himself off the ground and brushed the dirt and dust off of himself.

"It's fine, Leni. I just wasn't paying attention to where I was walking".

Leni smiled.

Now that he was not deep in thought, Lincoln looked around at the campsite. Leni and Lana were the only Louds present. Oddly enough, Lori was absent. At this time of night, she was usually sitting close to the fire, either chatting with her siblings or texting her friends. Not thinking much about it, however, Lincoln questioned Leni.

"What are you doing out here, anyway? I thought you were going to fish until real late tonight".

Leni sighed. "I _was_ , until Lori ran off. I fished for a bit more on my own, but it goe boring doing it alone. I haven't seen Lori since". Leni twiddled her fingers. "Sooo, I've been talking with Lana…"

"About what?", asked Lincoln.

" _You_ , Lincoln".

"Oh…" he said, grabbing his arm. Why was Leni talking about him?

"We think it's pretty unfair what Lola's been doing to you, but electrocuting her is acting no better!".

"Yeah," said Lana, walking forward. "This war has brought out the worst in you and Lola".

Word travels fast in the Loud family. Even though the attack had happened mere hours ago, Leni and Lana still somehow already knew about it. Lincoln figured that Lisa had told everybody about it. Either that, or Lucy had observed the whole thing from afar, and explained what had happened to Leni and Lana.

"So," said Leni, continuing Lana's train of thought. "Me and Lana decided we'd put an end to the war".

What? How could Leni and Lana put an end to the war themselves? "Uh, how do you plan on doing that?", asked Lincoln, hiding his skepticism.

"...I don't know", Leni admitted.

Lincoln sighed. He was grateful that Leni and Lana were looking out for him, but alas, it meant nothing. They had no idea how to bring Lola's tyranny to an end.

Lincoln smiled. "Well, I appreciate that you guys are looking out for me, but-"

"Whoa, Lincoln!", interrupted Lana. "Who said we were looking out for _you_?".

Lincoln was taken aback by this. "You said that you wanted to end that war. I've been the main _victim_ ever since it started! If you're not doing it for me, why else would you want to put an end to the war?".

"Lola may have started it, but the war has been hurting _everyone_ in this family, Lincoln", said Leni. "Not just you".

"Oh…" Lincoln looked down. It made sense that Leni and Lana wouldn't be as compassionate to him after the electric buzzer stunt he pulled off just a couple of hours ago. Just then, a thought passed through his mind; one that made him feel sick to his stomach.

"Leni…" he said quietly. Lincoln looked up, and looked his sister in the eyes. "You don't see me as _equal_ to Lola… do you?".

Leni sighed. "At this point, Lincoln… I don't know".

No.

Lincoln knew that he couldn't _possibly_ be even close to as bad as Lola. Even though she was six, Lola had made his life a living nightmare for the past month. She made him fail tests, she ruined his relationship with his best friend and most of his sisters, and she caused him tremendous amounts of mental and physical pain. All Lincoln did was launch a couple of unsuccessful counter-attacks, and electrocuted Lola _once_. How was he even _close_ to as bad as Lola?

Before he could angrily explain his views to Leni, Lincoln noticed the sound of rustling leaves behind him. He turned around to see Lynn, Luan, and Luna coming out of the woods.

 _Oh, great_ , thought Lincoln. The last time that he was with Luan and Luna, they walked away on him after he had electrocuted Lola.

"Hey, little bro!" Luna waved as she approached Lincoln.

"Hey, Luna", Lincoln replied calmly.

"Sooo, we've been talking" said Luan, now in front of Lincoln. "And, we think it would be pretty unfair of us to leave your side".

"So," continued Luna, "We decided to stick with you, on one condition; no more harsh attacks on Lola. We don't need to stoop to her level, ya' know?".

Lincoln nodded. "Fair enough. In fact, I was just talking to Leni. She started a team with Lana to stop the war as soon as possible, and I think it would be a good idea if we all joined it".

Lynn was skeptical. "Wouldn't that mean you'd be stepping down as a leader?".

Lincoln shrugged. "I guess, yeah. But stopping the war is my first priority right now, and I think this is the best way to do it".

Leni smiled. "Linky, I think you'd make a much better leader than me. _You_ should lead team resistance!".

Lincoln didn't expect this. "Me?", he asked, confusion evident in his voice.

Luan smiled. "Yeah! I mean, you're the 'man with the plan'. And, even though it was kind of cruel, you _did_ just manage to get back at Lola".

"Yeah," piped Luna. "You beat her at her own game!".

"I think it's a _great_ idea," said Lynn, smiling wide.

"I'm on board with following Lincoln's orders if you guys are!", said Lana.

Lincoln looked around at five of his sisters smiling at him, and seeing him as a _leader_. For the first time since the war started, Lincoln felt like things were finally starting to turn around in his favor. It was time to prove to them that he _wasn't_ as bad as Lola.

* * *

The hot, Mexican sun shone down on the three Santiagos as they made their way down the dusty path. Ronnie Anne looked around her. To her left, she saw breathtaking purple, dusty mountains in the distance. To her right, she saw white sand, and crystal blue water stretching down to the horizon. All around her, Ronalda saw beautiful flowered cacti. Despite the fantastic view, Ronnie Anne couldn't help but to feel nervous. She would be seeing her father for the first time since she was very little. Ronnie Anne didn't remember anything about the man, and her mother and brother refused to talk about her father, even when she questioned them about him.

The three family members walked in silence, no one brave enough to even dare utter a word. Finally, however, Ronnie Anne broke the prolonged silence.

"So, uh, how long until we get to Dad's place?".

Maria sighed. "Soon, _mi vida_. But, I must warn you… he may be a bit angry when we arrive".

Ronnie Anne gulped. She knew nothing about Mr. Santiago, and even now, she didn't dare ask questions about him. From what she could infer, he was not a good person.

After what semed like hours more of walking, the three family members finally came to a halt. Bobby, holding up a map, let out a yelp of glee. He was relieved that the long trek was almost over.

"His house is just up this hill, _mama_!".

Maria looked up the hill with uncertainty, before leading the way to a cobblestone path that lead upward, where no doubt Mr Santiago's house was located.

The first thing Ronnie Anne noticed was that the walkway leading uphill was surprisingly nice and looked to be well maintained. The stones that made up the path where very smooth, and each one fit into place perfectly; no doubt the work of a very skilled and well paid path layer. At a certain point, decorative bushes could be seen on either side of the walkway. They were cut perfectly, not a single leaf out of place. Despite the hot and arid climate, they remained almost sickeningly green, obviously being watered a lot.

" _Papa_ seems to really like having a nice path", Ronnie Anne observed as she and her family made their way up the hill.

"He likes to have a nice _property_ , sweetie", responded Maria.

At last, the family made it to the top of the hill. As soon as the house came into vision, Ronnie Anne stopped in her tracks. Her mouth fell agape as she looked at what was in front of her. Her father's house was much larger than she expected. In fact, it could hardly be called a house— it was a _hacienda_ , and almost as large as a mansion. It was designed with Latin architecture in mind; not to mention, it was very colourful. Bright, fluorescent blues, greens, reds, and yellows were visible painted over doors and windows borders. The home itself spread out like a green jewel in the desert. It was surrounded by vast gardens and fountains that sparkled in the sun. Peacocks strayed across its walkways, and wide marble steps led up to a veranda framed by orange trees. A few gardeners worked diligently outside. Once they saw the Santiagos approach, they stopped what they were doing, and bowed respectfully to the visitors.

Ronnie Anne started to move again, still surprised at how beautiful the hacienda was. It was not at all what she expected.

Now in front of the doorway, Maria rang the gold-plated doorbell. Almost instantly, the door opened, revealing a young woman wearing a maid apron.

"Can I help you, ma'am?", she asked sheepishly.

Maria nodded. "I'm here to see Mr. Santiago".

"Do you have an appointment?", asked the maid.

"Uh, no. But—".

The maid started to close the door. "I'm sorry. I can't let you in without an appointment".

"Wait!", cried Maria, putting her foot in the door to stop it from closing on her. "I'm Maria Santiago".

The maid gasped. "One second ma'am!". With that, she ran down the hall, and slammed the door behind her.

A few moments later, a tall man opened the door. He had jet black hair and a matching black moustache, as well as a tan complexion similar to the rest of the Santiagos. He was decently handsome, and eerily, Ronnie Anne noticed that he looked like an older version of Bobby. The man was wearing an expensive looking morning robe, and he held a mug of what appeared to be coffee in his hand.

The man's eyes widened as he saw the visitors. Silence filled the air.

"Maria…?", he finally managed to say.

The Santiago mother nodded.

The man stared ahead in disbelief. "...I thought you were dead!".

With that remark, even the coffee turned cold.

* * *

The fire cracked, crickets chirped, and the moon shined bright. It was still nighttime at the Loud family campgrounds. Lincoln stood on the houseboat porch, observing the assembly below.

Lincoln looked around at the siblings who had pledged to join team resistance. Lana was picking her nose. Lynn was punching Luan's arm playfully. Luan was moving to the side, obviously annoyed and trying to avoid Lynn. Luna had her earbuds in, oblivious to what was going on around her. She rocked her head back and forth as she pretended to jam out to the music. Leni stared off into space, thinking about only God knows what.

They weren't much compared to Lola and Lisa, but they were soon going to become his team. Lincoln was going to be their leader, and it was time to start acting like it.

"Team Resistance!", announced Lincoln. His siblings snapped to attention. "Today marks the beginning of the end to this cruel, pointless war!". Lincoln quickly went through his mind, trying to think back to his video games and comics, in hopes of coming up with what a leader would say at a time like this. "As your leader, I promise to topple Lola's evil empire _once and for all!_ She has caused this family _too much_ grief in her month-long war. She's attacked not only myself, but anyone that has opposed her!". Lincoln paused, letting his words sink in. "Well, I say _no more!_ We'll fight back against that tyrant! And, more importantly, we'll _win!_ "

Lincoln stopped. Silence hung in the air like a bad odor. The boy began to sweat. Did they not like his speech?

Just then, Lynn began to clap. Slowly at first, but picking up speed. Next, Leni joined in the applause. Then, Luan, Luna, and finally, Lana. The entire assembly clapped for Lincoln's speech.

The boy couldn't help but to smile.

As the applause finally started to die down, Leni made her way up to the porch of the houseboat. She opened the living room door, and ushered Lincoln inside. Next, she faced the audience.

"When Lincoln walks out of this door, he will be the new leader of the resistance!".

Leni earned another round of applause and cheers from the attendees. She turned around, walked inside of the houseboat, and shut the door behind her.

Now alone, Leni put her hands on her brother's shoulders.

"Lincoln," she said. "I want you to put a stop to this war. Don't just do it for yourself; do it for the family. This battle has been tearing us apart!".

Lincoln nodded. "I'll do my best, Leni".

"You'll need to do more than your best, Lincoln! We're up against Lola, Lisa, and possibly Lori or Lucy too". Leni paused, shuddering at the thought of Lola's psychopathic nature, and Lisa's genius. They were the two youngest members of the family other than Lily, but they were certainly scariest. Even outnumbered six to two, they were no easy enemy.

" _Promise_ me, Lincoln!", said Leni. " _Promise_ me you'll end this stupid war!". She lightly shook Lincoln back and forth.

Lincoln nodded slowly. "I promise, Leni", he whispered.

Leni smiled. "I knew I could count on you. Now, get out there, Lincoln!"

On the outside of the houseboat, Lana, Lynn, Luan, and Luna patiently waited for Lincoln and Leni to end their meeting. Lynn, in particular, was nervous. How would the role of leader change Lincoln? Would it be for the better? Was he even ready? Just then, footsteps approached and the living room door swung open— it was Lincoln. Team Resistance's new leader, still dressed in his standard orange shirt and jeans, appeared taller than Lynn remembered him, his shoulder straighter. The lines of stress that he had accumulated over the past month had vanished from his face, and he seemed more polished than before, as though he had finally assumed the position for which he had been born; the peacemaker. Awestruck, Lynn dropped to one knee.

Lincoln ran forward, and grabbed the houseboat porch railing with both hands. With nothing more appropriate to do, the boy laughed out loud.

This earned a look of confusion for the sisters assembled in front of him.

Getting a grip of his laughter, Lincoln looked down at Lynn. He smiled. "You don't need to kneel for me, ya' know".

Lynn didn't move. "Lincoln…" she said. "Please… end this war. Do it for the family, do it _for yourself_ ".

Lincoln smiled. "I will".


	19. Drones

**Lincoln has become more or less of a leader to the majority of his siblings. Will he use his newfound power to end the war quickly, or will he let it go to his head? More importantly, will he be a good leader? Chapter 20 is a turning point in the story, and you'll see why by the end. Here's a hint;** _ **drones**_ **.**

* * *

Lincoln knew that what Lynn's anger with him was justified. After he had gotten into the comic business, he had become so busy, he just never had the time to do the things he used to do. Even when he was still living with his family, he became distant. There was just so much work to do! What was he supposed to do? _Not_ follow every child's dream, to become rich off of an original idea that they had?

Lincoln was glad for the opportunity he had found, but not so much so with the implications that it came with. He looked out of the window of his security team's van. As they drove through the suburban town, Lincoln saw children playing outside. Throwing balls, playing tag, _having fun_. Lincoln felt sick to his stomach, as if feelings he had kept hidden away for years were starting to come back up. Feelings of youth, joy, and most importantly, the feeling of being loved. Lincoln had been long removed from these kinds of feelings ever since his early success in the comic industry. Since then, he had managed to cope with the lack of these feeling with superficial things; his wealth allowed him to easily do this. If Lincoln ever felt lonely, he could simply buy a new, expensive car and drive it around the city until he felt lonely no more. Sure, he knew it wasn't exactly the healthiest thing to do, but it was the only way he knew how to cope.

Now, however, no material objects could quell Lincoln's desires. Was it because of his encounter with Lynn? Had she reminded him how he had more or less abandoned his family, and replaced them with mere objects? If that was the case, then how was Lincoln supposed to deal with all _twelve_ members of his family visiting today? Not wanting to think about the matter anymore, Lincoln opened his passenger door. By now, he was back on his property. The man took a glance at his watch (one that he had won at an auction, outbidding a former president of the United States). It would soon be time for the visitors to come.

Lincoln swung open his front door, and walked inside. When he had left the house about an hour ago, servants had been working diligently to prepare for the party. Now, it seemed much more calm, due to the fact that all the necessary preparations had been made. Not a spot of dust or grime could be found within the massive mansion. Expensive beverages and snacks were laid out neatly on a table, and a six-course meal was being prepared in the kitchen.

Lincoln felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Markus, his personal aide. That man was the one person Lincoln considered to be a real friend of his.

"The visitors shall be coming shortly, sir. Am I to allow them entry?".

Lincoln nodded. Giving a sigh, he walked over to his front entrance, and looked out of the window that faced his front lawn. As he admired his beautiful property, the man could only wonder what it would be like to reunite with his family after so long. Soon enough, Lincoln saw vanzilla making its way up his long driveway. The man heard the hum of the vehicle loudly, Lincoln was inside of his house.

 _Odd,_ thought Lincoln. _That's a_ lot _louder than I remember._ The motor continued to roar as the car drove up the hill.

* * *

Lincoln rubbed his eyes. Not wanting to open them, however, the boy blindly grabbed his sheets and pulled them up father onto himself as he felt a cold chill. Although he was on the couch inside the houseboat living room, it was still fairly frigid inside due to the cold October morning weather outside.

The motor's roar continued to sound as Lincoln curled up into a ball under his sheets, so much so that it had awoken him. _Lana's probably messing with the boat engine again_ , thought the boy. Shortly thereafter, and much to Lincoln's pleasure, the motor finally turned off.

Now that he was comfortable again, Lincoln recalled what he had dreamed about last night. From what he could remember, the boy knew that he had yet again dreamt about himself as a rich entrepreneur. In fact, his dream continued from the last time he had left off.

 _Okay, this is getting weird_ , thought Lincoln. The only time he had a reoccurring dream was when he was little, around Christmas time. Every December, he would have the same dream about Santa Claus inviting Lincoln to the North Pole so that he could help him prepare for the upcoming Christmas. The difference between that and his latest dream, however, was that the Santa Claus dream was the same everytime, and it only happened about once a year when Lincoln was younger. The dream Lincoln was having about him being an entrepreneur was happening far more frequently, almost anytime he went to bed. Not only that, but it continued exactly where he left off each time.

Could his recent dreams… mean something? Lincoln quickly dismissed the thought as being too silly for the realm of reality. After all, dreams were only byproducts of the brain firing while people slumber. Lincoln had learned in class from Mrs. Johnson.

The boy's stomach growled. He knew that he had a more pressing matter to attend to. Pointless speculation on his subconscious mind could wait. Right now, Lincoln had some breakfast to put in his belly.

The sole brother of the Loud family forced himself out of his sheets, and walked into the kitchen area of the houseboat, still groggy from having woken up. His entire family was present with the exception of Lana (which confirmed his guess that she had been toying with the boat engine) and Lori. Because their parents were there, Lincoln knew he didn't have to fear a fight breaking out, as Lynn Sr. and Rita would be pretty angry with their children not getting along on a trip that's main purpose is to reunite the family.

"Good morning, O glorious leader", joked Lynn as she poured herself a mug of coffee.

As he chuckled at Lynn's joke, Lincoln couldn't help but to notice that his sisters seemed to be looking a little under the weather. Sure, nobody in the Loud family was really a morning person (except for Lucy, who didn't seem to exhibit any emotions at all), but they all looked to be upset about something.

"Who died?", said Lincoln, trying to brighten the mood with a joke.

"You didn't hear?", said Luan. "Lori drove off last night by herself! She's not picking up her phone or anything. Mom and Dad might call the police if they don't find out what's happening soon".

Lincoln gulped. This would be his first true test of leadership. He needed to act strong in this time of crisis, or he'd run the risk of being weak in his sister's eyes.

"I'm sure she's fine," he offered. Lincoln did his best to sound calm, hiding the fear that he himself had. "Lori probably just went for a joyride or something and forgot to charge her phone".

The boy saw his sister relax a bit, relieved at the comforting words Lincoln was able to muster. Still, the atmosphere of the room remained bleak.

Lynn Sr. spoke up, and despite trying to remain calm, worry was evident in his voice. "If she doesn't come back soon, we may need to report her as missing…".

Not even the October cold could make the Loud children shiver more intensely than the remark their father had just made.

* * *

The now reunited Santiago family sat on the living room couch. As Ronnie Anne sat, she noted how comfortable her seat was. The Hispanic girl looked around her. Not only five minutes ago had Ronnie Anne met her father, but she already was starting to feel good about him. So far, he had been very nice to not just her and Bobby, but their mother as well. He spoke as if he genuinely cared for them, and he offered them just about anything they could want. In the short time they had been in his home, they were already offered food, drinks, keys to his many cars, and full unrestricted access to any part of the house and property. All of this made Ronnie Anne wonder…

… why did her mother ever leave her father?

Before Ronalda could ponder the question any further, a group of five young children walked into the living room in a straight line. The youngest looked to be about four or five years old, and the oldest was around Ronnie Anne's own age. Once in front of the Santiagos, they stopped, and turn to face them.

Mr. Santiago clapped with delight once he saw the children.

"You guys are in for a treat!", he said gleefully.

In the next moment, the children began to sing in Spanish. Ronnie Anne was taken aback by this. At first, she thought she was listening to a recording, modified to make the voices sound the best possible. The children sounded _beautiful_. But, this was no recording. The room filled up with the children's sweet, young voices. The Santiago family's ears rang with delight as the choir sung their song. The notes rang through the ear like water in a desert pool. Ronalda could only guess that they've been practicing their entire lives. How else could they manage to sing so gracefully?

The time that they sang for was not even guessable to Ronnie Anne. As they performed, the Hispanic girl fell into a trance, losing any sense of passing time. Finally, however, the song halted. Ronalda woke up. It was as though she'd had just awoken from a wonderful dream.

Ronnie Anne looked over to Bobby and Maria. They, too, were astonished by what they had just heard. The two began to compliment the choir of children, and started to question Mr. Santiago about just how he managed to acquire such an amazing group of young vocalists. Ronalda didn't pay much attention to them, and instead, stood up from the couch. She walked up to the oldest one, who was about her age.

"That was amazing!", she complimented. "How long have you been practicing?".

Instead of answering, the boy simply stared forward. It was as if he was a robot.

Ronnie Anne tried again "Hey, dude", she said, waving her hand in front of his face. "Are you alive?".

Still, the boy only looked ahead coldly.

Suddenly, in contrast to the warm, fuzzy feeling that the music had put her in, Ronalda grew cold. There was something very off-putting about the boy who stood in front of her. It was almost like he wasn't even a human.

Ronnie Anne felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see her mother looking down at her. Maria's expression was unlike that of anything Ronalda had ever saw before. She looked to be nervous, yet somber as well, like she was about to inform Ronnie Anne that a loved one has passed.

"Ronalda…" whispered the nurse. "That's no normal boy. That's a _drone_ ".

Ronnie Anne didn't understand. How could the boy not be normal? What even was a drone? Before the girl could even question her mother, Maria turned to Mr. Santiago.

"Me and Ronalda are going to start carrying our stuff into our rooms, _Mi Amor_ ".

The Santiago father started to protest. "Nonsense! I'll simply call a servant-" However, it was no use. Maria had already dragged her daughter into the entrance room.

Once alone, the Santiago mother put her hands on Ronnie Anne's shoulders and quickly started to speak.

"Ronalda," she said. "We can't stay here for long. He may not seem like it, but your father is a very evil man, with no regard for morals! Those children who sung to us were no normal kids— they were _drones_ , little more than robots". Maria gulped, bracing to tell her daughter the dark truth. "They have brain chips implanted in them, Ronalda! They're no better than _slaves_. That's how your father got rich! He caught poor souls, put chips in their brains, and put them to work on his farms".

This was quite a bit for Ronnie Anne to take in at once. A million questions buzzed around in her mind, but she was to shocked to speak. She opened her mouth, but was unable to say anything.

"That's why I left him!", continued Maria. "He's a very evil man. He may seem nice on the outside, but he holds no compassion for anybody but himself. All he cares about is money!".

Before she could say anymore, a servant girl walked into the room. "Would you like help with your bags, Mrs. Santiago?".

The mother of two could say no more. If she did, the servant would hear, and would definitely inform Mr. Santiago. All Maria could do was nod.

The servant rushed over to the bags, and picked them up. She moved unnaturally, yet efficiently. As Ronnie Anne watched the girl work, she felt her stomach sink.

The maid was a drone as well.


	20. No Better

**To those wondering, yes, the separate plots about the Santiagos and their father, as well as Lincoln's dream, will eventually tie back to the main plot. In fact, it may happen sooner than you think.**

* * *

 _Knock, knock, knock!_

Lori banged on the door of the Casagrande apartment.

 _I didn't drive all night to be ignored at the door!_ Lori knocked again, but harder. Still, nobody came.

Just as she was about to blow a fuse, an elderly man walked up to her side.

"The Casagrande family closed their store for now", said the man. "Apparently, they're having some family issues. Sure is a shame, where am I supposed to get my groceries now?".

Lori could only assume the worst. "Sir, do you know anything about where the teenage boy of the family could be? He's a bit taller than me, with dark hair, a plaid shirt, he always wears jeans…".

The elderly man shook his solemnly. "I'm afraid he, along with his mother and little sister, ran into some trouble with the law. The last I heard, they were preparing to leave the country. The rest of the Casagrandes are at the city hall right now, fighting for them to be able to return. They swear that the Santiagos were here legally".

Lori's stomach sank. Her beloved boyfriend wasn't even in the country. In shock, she stumbled backward, letting her back hit the wall of the Casagrande apartment. She slowly let herself slide down the wall, eventually ending up kneeling, and holding her arms around her knees.

Just when she thought all hope was lost, however, her phone vibrated. Lori figured it was just her family trying to get in contact with her again, but when she looked at the screen, she felt like somebody had just electrocuted her.

It was Bobby.

* * *

Out of the town, out of the state, out of the country, two thousand miles away from Michigan, "Bobby" Roberto Alejandro Martinez-Millan Luis Santiago, Jr. unplugged his phone from the wall charger inside of the hacienda. He had a very important phone call to make to a certain ex-girlfriend of his that he needed to re-earn.

As soon as he powered on his phone, the Santiago boy was greeted with a peculiar message;

 _104 missed calls - Lori Loud_

"Oh, no!". Bobby's phone had run out of battery before he was rudely removed from the Casagrande apartment. Of course, he never had the time to charge it until now. Even though it was out of his control, the boy felt guilty for not being able to speak with Lori until now. Immediately, he punched in her phone number.

After a brief moment of ringing, his long-distance girlfriend picked up.

" _Hello?! Bobby?!_ "

"Oh, thank God. It's you!".

" _What took you so long to answer me? I'm at your house, where even are you?!_ "

Bobby, who was unaware of the Loud family camping trip, didn't realize that Lori had driven through multiple states to arrive at his old apartment.

"Babe, I'm all the way down in Mexico right now! It's a long story, but—"

" _Mexico! How long will you be there?!_ ".

Bobby sighed. "I don't know. My mother got into some trouble with the law, but I'm positive we were framed or something! I mean, she's been in the country for as long as she could remember. It's ridiculous!".

Lori sniffled on the other end of the line. " _Y-your coming back soon, right?_ ".

"Babe, I'll do anything I can to get back there. I'm living with my father right now, and he has a lot of money! I'm sure he can sort this out for us soon".

This was new information to Lori. " _He has a lot of money? What does he do for a living?_ ".

"Well, he owns a farm, and there's lots of workers— ".

Just then, a waitress carrying what appeared to be a bucket of boiling water rushed by. In her haste, she accidently came too close to the Santiago boy, and tripped over him. The pot of water came flying out of her hand, and started to head straight toward Bobby, who let out a yelp of surprise.

Fortunately, the maid was able to push Bobby out of the way just in time. Unfortunately, she did so in a way that caused him to lose his grip of his phone. Bobby stumbled backward, safe from the water, but his phone fell to the ground and into the puddle. The phone sizzled, before making an error noise and going dark.

Bobby looked up, and to his surprise, he saw that the maid was standing right in the hot water without so much as flinching. It was as if she was immune to pain, or didn't care that her feet were in over 100 degree water.

"Are you okay?!", yelled Bobby in surprise.

The maid only nodded, and walked away. Bobby was atoned by what he had just seen. The person who had just saved him wasn't acting like a human. What's more, is that if he didn't know any better, Bobby would suspect that she had ruined his phone on purpose.

* * *

Deep in the woods of Royal Woods, Michigan, Lola Loud sat comfortably behind her desk inside of the treehouse that Lana had built for her about a year ago. Lola had just left the local park where had been speaking with Lisa. Tomorrow, the Loud family would be departing for New York to start their camping trip. The treehouse was small but comfortable. It had a door, a window, a desk and chair, and, most importantly in Lola's opinion, a table with an old record player on top of it.

"I can think more clearly in a calm environment," said Lola, taking a record out from her desk drawer. She stood up, and walked over to the record player. Once there, the 6-year-old plopped the record down, and started playing it. Classical opera music filled the room as the pageant princess made her way back to the desk.

"So," started Lola, sitting back down behind her desk. "You know why you're here, right?".

Lucy, who sat on the opposite side of the desk, nodded. "You want me on your side, don't you?".

Lola laughed. "I don't _want_ you on my side. I'm _going_ to have you on my side".

The little goth girl sighed, not actually sighing, but verbally saying 'sigh'.

Seeing her older sister's discomfort, Lola slammed her glove-covered fist down on the desk, evoking fear and establishing her dominance. "Don't act like you're the victim here, Lucy Loud! You betrayed me. Because of your stupidity, Lincoln almost escaped with Lynn before Mom and Dad got home yesterday! Do you have any idea how much closer that would have put him to victory?".

There was a moment of silence.

"I don't think Lincoln's wrong in this war. Maybe it would be _good_ if he won", said Lucy softly.

Lola sighed. "It doesn't matter what you think, now, does it? You're going to work for me, or else I'll have no choice but to let out your little _secret_ ".

Lucy gasped. "You wouldn't!".

"Oh, I _would_ ". Lola grinned. "If word gets out about your little _obsession_ , it's going to make your princess pony secret look like _nothing_. Do you understand?".

The little goth girl could only shake her head in shame. "Yeah, I understand…".

"Good!", said Lola, giving a toothy, smug grin.

* * *

The Loud children were currently confined to the houseboat due to Lori's sudden disappearance. It had been decided by Lynn Sr. and Rita that they were going to report their situation to the police. Of course, since the car was missing, they would need to walk a few miles to get to the nearest town. While they were gone, the Loud children had been instructed to not leave the campsite.

Confined to such a small space didn't leave much to do. Leni picked lint out of the couch, Luna played on her acoustic guitar, Luan was reading some book (Lincoln figured it was either a joke notebook, or a book detailing the art of war), Lynn was hitting a tennis ball off of the wall, Lucy was doing some sort of ritual with a magic fortune ball, Lana was playing with her trusty pet frog, Hops, Lola was admiring herself with her mirror, Lisa had her nose stuck in some book about a scientist named Rick Sanchez, and Lily was happily stacking wooden blocks, blissfully unaware of the fact that her oldest sibling was currently missing.

The atmosphere of the room was melancholy, and nobody spoke up. Under normal circumstances, ten Loud children in the same room would usually be a lot, well, _louder_. But, due to the uncertain nature of Lori's safety, the room was nearly dead silent. Most Loud siblings wore a worried expression.

Lincoln picked up a newspaper. Sure, it wasn't the most exciting thing to read, but he wasn't left with many options.

 _Plane shot dow_ n over Barnatia — 120 passengers killed.

Lincoln's heart sank when he saw the title of the newspaper's main article. As he read, the boy came to find out that the Barnatian government shot down a passenger plane that accidentally flew into their airspace. Their reasoning was that if they simply allowed the plane to fly over their country, then more and more planes would do so without regard for their ban on air traffic over their land. Barnatia justified it, saying that if they didn't take action, then a war could have broken out, killing more people than if they just shot down the plane— it was for the greater good.

Lincoln shook his head in shame. Shooting down a plane, even to avert a war, was a flat out evil thing to do. The boy sighed, and threw the newspaper back down on the coffee table. Not even a minute into reading about current events, and Lincoln had already had enough.

The boy's phone buzzed, letting him know that someone had texted him. He took it out, and looked at his screen. He gasped as he saw who had contacted him— it was Lori.

' _Call. Now. DON'T TELL ANYONE IT'S ME!'_ , the text read.

Lincoln pondered the situation. At first, he wanted to tell his siblings that Lori had texted him. It would give them immense relief to learn that she had gotten back into contact with the Loud family. As he thought about it, however, Lincoln realized that Lori probably had a good reason for only wanting him to speak with her at the moment. Still, leaving the rest of his sisters in the dark about Lori's message only meant that he was being dishonest with them, and if they found out, how would that change their view on Lincoln as a trustworthy person?

 _Being a leader is hard_ , thought Lincoln.

Deciding to keep the text a secret, at least for the time being, Lincoln closed his flip phone and made his way to the houseboat door.

"Ronnie Anne wants to call me, I'll be right back".

" _Oooo!_ ", said Lola.

As Lincoln closed the door behind him, the pageant princess turned to face her present siblings. "Should we listen to what he's telling his little _novia?_ ", she asked.

"Oh, bug off," said an angry Luna.

"Can't you read a room, Lola?", said Luan. "Now is not the time for your twisted shenanigans. Lori could be in danger".

Lola grinned. "Well, if nobody else is going to listen to his conversation, I guess I'll have to do it myself!". The pageant powerhouse made her way to the door, and pressed her ear up against it.

"Oh, no you don't!", said Lynn. She picked up Lola by the shoulders, and effortlessly moved her to the couch. "You're going to sit there until Lincoln comes back in".

Lola flailed her arms in the air as she was being carried, but her resistance did nothing to help her. "Hey! Stop!", she whined.

Now outside, Lincoln punched in Lori's number into his phone. After a few rings, his sister picked up.

"Where are you?!" Lincoln made sure to keep the volume low so that only he could hear Lori. Additionally, he spoke in vague terms, so that if anybody was eavesdropping on him, they wouldn't be able to tell that Lincoln was actually speaking with the Loud family's eldest sibling.

" _Lincoln!",_ she said on the other end of the line. " _Thank God you picked up!_ ".

"Where are you?!", repeated Lincoln.

" _I'm literally all the way back in Michigan. I_ —" _._

Lincoln slapped his hand over his face. "What are you doing in _Michigan?!_ ".

" _I came here to talk to Bobby, I needed to do it in person! He wasn't picking up his phone_ — _Oh, I've been horrible to him! But, he's not even here! Get this— he's literally in_ Mexico!".

Lincoln felt a twinge of empathy for Lori. Sure, she may have more or less stolen Vanzilla without permission. Not to mention, she made the family feel worried sick for her in the process because of her carelessness to not let them know where she was going. But, despite all of that, she was doing all of this because she was worried for Bobby. Lincoln didn't know much about having a significant other, but he did understand what it felt like to not be able to get in contact with somebody that you care about.

The boy sighed. _What is it with these teens and going to far away places without telling anybody?_

" _Lincoln, I know you probably literally hate me right now, but I need you to do me a favor_ ".

"What?", said Lincoln bluntly. At the moment, he wasn't too pleased with Lori.

" _I need you to not tell anyone where I am. Just for a little longer, I swear!_ ".

"What? No! You _need_ to come clean to the family. We've been so worried about you! The rest of our sisters are stuck in the houseboat while Mom and Dad walk to the police station. They don't want anyone else to go missing".

Lori gasped. " _The_ police _are getting involved?_ ".

" _Yes_ , Lori! For all we knew, you could have been kidnapped".

" _When I drove off, I didn't know it was going to be that serious. Oh, Lincoln… I just wanted to make it up to Bobby! I put him before my own family… and, for what it's worth… I'm sorry_ ".

Whoa. Lincoln didn't expect Lori to ever apologize to him anytime soon. Not during the war.

"T-Thanks, Lori… it really does mean a lot".

Now that he was buttered up, Lori knew it was time for her to make her request to Lincoln.

" _Lincoln… please, I still need you to keep this a secret. Just for a little longer"._

Lincoln, overwhelming by the sheer outrageousness of the situation, once again slapped his hand over his face. " _What?_ Why?!".

" _I don't think that the rest of the family will think I'm sorry unless I tell you the whole story in person. I need to be sincere about this, Lincoln. I messed up bad_ ".

"Lori, that doesn't matter! We have a right to know the truth".

Lori sighed. She didn't want to, but she had no choice. She was going to have to blackmail Lincoln.

" _If you tell them, then I'm going to lie to them, and let them know all about the time you told me to drive back to Michigan to pick up one of your stupid comic collections that you forgot to bring on the trip."._

Was Lori being serious? "What?", said a now angry Lincoln. "That never happened!".

" _The rest of the family doesn't know that_ ", sneered Lori. " _And, if they think you told me to go back to Michigan for a petty reason, and if they_ also _think you never told them the truth even though you knew about it the whole time, then even the sisters on your side of the war will be angry enough to turn against you_ ".

"That's a _lie_ , Lori! It's _evil!_ ".

" _No, it's not. Just keep your mouth shut for one more day, and nobody will take any blame for what I did but me. Cappech?"._

Lincoln was speechless. Lori didn't yet know that Lincoln was the leader of five of his sisters. In her mind, only one or two of them were on his side, and there were a few more neutral ones at best. Still, her blackmail was very convincing. Lincoln wanted to trust his sisters to believe him over Lori's lie, he really did, but he had _just_ formed Team Lincoln. If Lori told everybody that it was actually Lincoln's fault that the family thought she was missing, there was a chance that she would be believed. After all, everyone was currently clouded with emotions. They sorely missed and were worried about Lori, possibly to the point where they would believe anything to come out of her mouth as soon as she was reunited with them.

The white haired boy shook his head in shame. It was better for the entire family if Team Lincoln remained together, so that they could end the war and get it over with. He was going to need to keep his mouth shut. It was no better than lying, but it was for the greater good.

Lincoln recalled the news article he read just a few minutes ago. In a perverse way, he was no better than the Barnatian government who shot down a plane to avert a war.

"Fine… I'll keep my mouth shut".

Lincoln slammed the flip phone shut, and in a fit of anger, threw it into the lake.


	21. Dark Discovery on a Dock

**Singled Out is drawing to a close. At this point, I'd say chapter 25 will be the last chapter unless there is an epilogue later on. I still have lots of good stuff in store, so stick around! By the way, this story is now three months old. It's hard to believe I've been writing this for that long… whoa.**

 **This chapter will take a deeper look at Lola. And, boy, she's not in a good place right now.**

* * *

Lola stood on the edge of the dock, alone. It was the mid-afternoon, now, and there was still no sign of Lori.

She sighed. Having her eldest sister suddenly go missing was not part of her plan. Of course, Lori of all people didn't mean much to the war. She was the only Loud child that could drive, sure, but right now, the entire family was in the woods, rendering driving useless. The forest was just too thick.

The pageant princess heard light footsteps on the wood of the dock approaching behind her. She turned around, and saw Lisa approaching her.

"Feeling bad about Lori, huh?", asked the junior scientist, now next to her older sister.

Lola was silent.

"I'm guessing that's a yes?".

Lola shook her head. She wore a somber expression. "No… Lisa... I _don't_ feel bad for Lori".

This wasn't the answer that Lisa expected. "Oh", she said. "Why is that?".

There was a brief pause before Lola answered. "I… I don't know, Lisa. I don't feel anything anymore. I know that my oldest sister is out there somewhere, and can be in danger, but… I don't feel worried for her. I don't know why, either… _and that's the scary part_ ".

Lisa nodded. "Oh… I see. Well, that's good".

Lola turned to look at the 4-year-old. "What? How's that _good?_ ".

Lisa shrugged. "I just assumed you thought it was a good thing. I mean, I think it's good. Compassion is a human weakness, no? I abandoned it a while ago. I'm a woman of science, after all. I won't let my emotions cloud my judgment".

"It's not just 'emotions clouding my judgment', Lisa! My older sister, who I grew up with my entire life, is _missing_! Yet, I can't find it in me to feel any sliver of worry! It's like I'm a _robot!_ ". Lola picked up a pebble from the dock and threw it with all of her might into the water. She then allowed herself to fall onto her knees. She grabbed her legs. "Lisa…", she said, looking at the scientist. "Am I… evil?".

Lisa scoffed. "Worse, you're smart. At least, you're getting smarter. Lola Loud, when you put a microphone on your tiara to eavesdrop on our sibling secret sharing meeting, I was honestly impressed. You were able to turn the entire family into little more than your slaves. You made us bend the knee, and we were powerless to stop you. You held us in the palm of your hand. Sure, I was annoyed that I had to do your homework for you every night, but I knew that it was only fair. I was outsmarted. _Me!_ Outsmarted. Imagine that". Lisa sat down on the dock as well, and scooted closer to Lola. "But, then, we found dirt on you. We were able to end your reign of terror over us". Lisa smiled, remembering her day of liberation from servitude to Lola. "Then, you did the last thing I'd expect from _Lola Loud_ of all people. You took the fall for _everything_ bad. Lori scratching the van, Lincoln breaking dad's disco ball, me burning Mom and Dad's bedspread— _everything!_ ". Lisa shook her head. "One thing that even I couldn't figure out even until this day; _why_ did you do it?".

Lola, who had been attentively listening to Lisa's monologue, shook her head. "Isn't it obvious, Lisa? I saw that I made a mistake, and I knew I needed to make it up to you guys. Taking the fall for all of you was honestly the best thing to do after all the crap I put you through".

Lisa snickered. "I don't know anybody but you that can go from heartlessly enslaving their siblings to taking the fall for them. Calm down, Lola. You _can_ feel empathy, otherwise you wouldn't have lied about doing all of those bad things… right?".

Lola slammed her first on the dock in anger. This was unexpected, and startled Lisa. "I didn't do it for you guys! _I did it for myself_. I wanted to join your secret club, and after turning you into slaves, I knew the only way to do it was by doing that would be to take the blame for the worst things you've done. And, I was right! You guys finally trusted me enough to let me go to your meetings, and all it cost was a month of being grounded".

Lisa, who had since calmed down from Lola's sudden outburst, adjusted her glasses. "How do I put this lightly... you're somebody that society would call a sociopath. Even though you may hide it at times, you hold no regard for any individual other than yourself. Not your friends, not your family— _you care only about yourself_ ".

Lola looked at the water, sparking oh so beautifully below her feet. "I was afraid you'd say something like that…".

"Oh, no", said Lisa. "Don't fear it. _Embrace_ it. Learn to hide it, if that's what you want". The child prodigy chuckled. "You know, I'm even a bit jealous of you. Even I have empathy, believe it or not. I'd be able to get much farther with my work if I just allowed myself to kill test animals. But, I can just never bring myself to do it".

 _Sociopath_ , thought Lola. That word was something she definitely didn't want to be associated with herself, no matter how jealous Lisa was. Her sister was probably just overreacting… right?

"Is… is there a cure?", asked the pageant princess.

"I'd be lying if I said there was. Fact of the matter is, this is something you're going have to live with. Try hiding it, try masking it if you want, but it won't go away. Contrary to what the family might think, I can't just whip up a potion to make everyone's problems go away".

"There _has_ to be a cure", Lola said matter of factly.

Lisa sighed. "Don't be an idiot. You're smarter than that, Lola. We both know you're just saying what you want to hear. You know better". The scientist stood up, and started to walk away. "It's not as bad as you might think, Lola. After all, your condition has allowed you to carry on this war thus far, right? We're almost done here, anyway".

When Lisa was gone, Lola laughed. She didn't know why exactly, but the continued to laugh loudly to herself until her laughing turned into loud screaming and her screaming turned into quiet sobbing.

* * *

Bobby struggled to keep up with his little sister as she pulled his arm down the hallway of the hacienda.

"Ronnie Anne, where are you taking me?!".

Ronalda hushed her older brother. " _Shhh_. Be patient". The 11-year-old _wanted_ to tell Bobby where she was taking him, but she just couldn't. After all, the walls in this house had ears. Maids and servants worked diligently around them, and all of them were most likely _drones_. If they could tell that anything was off, they'd report to their patrón, Mr. Santiago. Who knows what could happen if that evil man found out that his family knew his secret?

The two siblings came to an empty hallway, deep within the west wing of the house. There was no telling when a servant, no, a _drone_ could come by, so Ronalda made sure to get to the point quickly.

"Bobby, you may have a hard time believing me, but hear me out! Most of the servants in this house, maybe all of them— they're _drones!_ People with microchips attached to their brain. They're no more than slaves!".

To this, Bobby could only chuckle. He knew his little sister had an active imagination, and this was a prime example. He ruffled Ronnie Anne's hair.

"That's a pretty funny prank and everything, but I need to get back to work. Dad is teaching me how to defraud investors, and—"

Ronnie Anne grabbed Bobby by the shoulders, and shook him back and forth. "This is _serious_ , Bobby! I know it may be hard to believe, but you need to _trust_ me here! Think! Did you notice any of the workers around here acting… suspicious? Unnatural?".

Bobby thought back to earlier that morning. He remembered a servant spilling boiling water on her feet, but not reacting in the slightest. Things started to click. It came slow at first, but eventually, the dark reality dawned upon him that Ronnie Anne wasn't just joking.

Bobby gasped. "Oh… no… _what do we do?!_ ".

Ronnie Anne sighed. "It's not safe here. Our father is twisted, and there's no telling what he can do to us. In fact, he may even be the reason we got thrown out of Michigan. We were perfectly legal there after all, right? I have a bad feeling about this house, and Mom does too. We need to leave. As soon as possible".

Bobby nodded in agreement. "Good idea, but how are we going to get out of here? We're being watched like hawks! Where will we even run off to?".

"I have a plan, Bobby. Listen up".

* * *

Lola Loud sat on a fallen tree log decently deep within the woods. She awaited the arrival of a certain sibling of hers. She had talked with them in private, and convinced the individual to meet her in the woods for a brief, private conversation regarding the war.

Before long, Lola saw none other than Lincoln Loud approaching her. She drummed her fingers on the log, impatient.

"Let's make this quick," Lincoln said, now standing in front of the 6-year-old.

"Good idea", responded the pageant powerhouse. "I'll cut to the chase— you want this war over. I want to win this war. We can help each other out here, right? Surrender now, and I'll be generous with our terms".

Lincoln sighed. "I knew this meeting would be a waste of time". He looked up to the sky. "Lola, team resistance is actually making progress. You're outnumbered, and everybody knows that this stupid war is winding down. If anyone should be begging for generous terms, it's _you_ ".

Lola chuckled. "Lincoln, I don't know how you don't know this by now, but I get what I want. You have more people, sure, but I'm Lola Loud! Do you think I'm going to _lose?_ ".

"Yes".

"Well, then you're sadly mistaken".

There was a pause. An uneasy tension hung in the air.

Lincoln turned around. "Well, I'll be on my way. Honestly, I don't know why I came. I knew this was going to be a waste of time. You're getting desperate, Lola… at least try not to make it obvious". Lincoln waved his hand, and started to head back to his camp.

"Lincoln… why did you hit me?".

The white haired boy stopped in his tracks. That definitely came out of nowhere. He turned around.

"Why did you hit me?", repeated Lola. "Remember that one time when I came in your room? Why did you try to hit me?".

"Lola… I really don't like trying to hurt you, even when you act like a brat. But, that day, you came into my room just to torment me when I was _already_ feeling bad. I guess I'm sorry, but you were really asking for it. I mean, you even had a pan under your shirt, so you were obviously trying to push my buttons on purpose". He shook his head in shame. "Still… if you honestly feel bad about it… I'm sorry".

"There was a reason I did that, Lincoln Loud. I wanted to test you. To see if anger could blind your judgment. And, _clearly_ , it did. You're weak. You're no leader. Why do you think you could stop me?".

"Because I'm not a sociopath", Lincoln responded quickly.

Lola's eyes widened. This was definitely _not_ what she expected to happen. "What… what makes you say that?", she stammered.

"You're little conversation with Lisa that you had on the dock this morning. Honestly, it makes a lot of sense. You're sick, Lola…"

The pageant princess shot up from the log. " _Who told you?!_ ", she cried.

"Well, let's see", said Lincoln. "I have microphones placed all around the woods, I have cameras on every fish in the lake, and, oh, yeah. Lisa is my _sister!_ She tells me things!".

"She told you?!".

" _Yes!_ Lola, you're a sociopath. That's… that's not good". Lincoln brought himself to the ground, defeated. He sat down on the dirt, and played with a leaf in his hands.

Lola approached her brother. "Is… is there any hope for me? Lisa said there wasn't a cure". She sniffled.

"No… No. There's no cure". Lincoln looked at his sister. She was now in front of him. "And, it's pretty bad if you're able to tell when you're only six years old. But… I don't think there's completely no hope for you. I never said _that_ ".

"What do I do?".

Lincoln smiled. "Even if there's no cure… I think you can get better. _I'll help you_ with this, Lola".

Lola sniffled again. "...Really?".

"Of course! You're my sister, even if you do stupid things sometimes like declare wars on brothers". Lincoln chuckled. "It's not the end of the world. You just need help".

Lola smiled. "Wow… thanks, Lincoln!".

She opened her arms, and in response, Lincoln did the same. The two hugged under the roofed forest. Lola, from the bottom of her heart, honestly wanted to get better.

Could she?


	22. Steps Forward

**During the dream sequences, I'll do my best not to describe the Loud family's appearances or how they've spent their adult lives in great detail; this isn't that kind of fanfiction. I want to focus on Lincoln's mistake, and how he tries making it up to them. Trust me, it will be important later on, especially when it's revealed why he's having those dreams.**

* * *

"I _want_ to feel compassion. I mean, _everyone_ I've ever known does!". Lola sighed. "I just don't know why I'm not able to".

Lincoln ruffled his sister's hair. After their conversation in the woods, Lincoln had agreed to talk to Lola about her condition. The sky above them was growing dark. Their parents had not returned from their trip to the police station yet, and worry was starting to grow amongst the Loud children. For now, though, all that concerned Lincoln was helping the pageant princess.

"It's okay, Lola. You're probably just overthinking this." Lincoln paused to think. "When was the last time you thought that you should have felt guilty but didn't?"

Lola's eyes widened. The answer was obvious; the time she sabotaged her grandfather's motorcycle show. But, was she prepared to tell Lincoln that? What if he told the rest of the family? Lola knew that they'd lose all respect for her indefinitely.

Still, if she wasn't brutally honest, how could she hope to ever get better? Lola gulped. She'd have to tell Lincoln the truth.

"Well…" she started. "Remember the accident that Albert got into?"

Lincoln nodded, but was confused why Lola was bringing up the accident now. "Yeah, why?", he asked.

"Uhh… I… Lincoln, it was _me!_ " Lola broke into tears, covering her face. "I rigged Albert's ramp so that it would break! _I'm_ the reason he was in the hospital! I'm the reason he almost _died!_ "

By now, Lola was covering her eyes with her hands, sobbing lightly into them. She heard Lincoln say nothing; she figured that he was processing what he just heard.

"But, the worst part? Even now, I don't feel bad about it! What's wrong with me, Lincoln?!".

Lola looked up. However, she didn't see Lincoln. In fact, she didn't see the woods that they had been in. She was in her room, on her bed, alone, hugging one of her stuffed animals. In shock, Lola threw the stuffed animal across the room.

"What the…?"

As if things weren't confusing enough, her door opened, and in walked Albert and Lisa. Lola's little sister was holding on to Pop-Pop by the arm, bringing him into the room.

"There she is," said Lisa, using her free hand to point at Lola.

Albert cracked his knuckles.

"So, you _were_ the one that tried murdering me, huh? Well, I'm about to give you a piece of my mind! I haven't been this energized since my navy days!".

As Albert approached Lola, she crawled backward on her bed, desperately trying to escape him. However, instead of reaching her bedroom wall, she instead fell backward. Everything went black. She was in an eternal fall, doomed to decline into the immutable abyss for eternity.

At least, that's what she thought. That illusion was quickly broken as she felt herself hit the ground. There was a loud _Thump!_ as the pageant princess made contact with the earth below her. She looked around. Lola was in a hospital room, along with the rest of her family. They surrounded Albert, who was lying in his bed. The machine next to him beeped steadily, until suddenly, it flatlined.

Pop-Pop was dead.

Lola, along with the rest of her family, sobbed, mourning the loss of Albert. Unfortunately, before long, their sadness turned to ire. All of them faced Lola, anger evident on their faces.

Lincoln in particular stepped forward, and put his hands on Lola's shoulders.

"How could you?!", he cried with anger. "Why did you wait so long to tell us? Why did you do it in the first place?! What did Pop-Pop ever do to _you?!_ ". Lola's brother shook her violently back in forth. "Why!", he screamed. "Lola! Lola! _Lola!_ ".

" _LOLA!_ ", screamed Lincoln. His hands were on his shoulders, still shaking her back and forth. " _Wake up!_ ".

They were still in the woods. Lola figured that she must have fallen asleep and had a nightmare.

"What… what happened?", asked a confused Lola. "Did I fall asleep?".

"No!", said Lincoln, still disturbed by his sister's blackout. "You were wide awake, and as soon as you mentioned Albert, you went into some kind of trance! I think you had a panic attack!".

Oh. That's right. Lola had admitted her sabotage of Albert to Lincoln. He must be really mad at her right now.

"I know it means nothing…", said Lola, grabbing her arm and looking away in shame. "But, I'm really sorry. I just want to get better. Really, I do!".

Lincoln sighed. "What you did was horrible, yeah… but, at least you can admit that it was wrong. You feel bad about it, and that's the important thing".

Lola frowned. "But, _can't_ feel bad about it! That's why I came to you for help!".

"You _do_ , idiot!"

Lincoln very rarely addressed his sisters like that, so Lola knew he was serious.

"If you didn't, you wouldn't have had that panic attack just now, would you?".

Lola opened her mouth, but was unable to speak. Lincoln was right. The pageant princess had constant nightmares about Albert, and just now, even a panic attack! She _could_ feel guilt; just only subconsciously. Did that mean she was even more guilty than if she only felt bad when she was conscious? Was the pain she felt for hurting Albert so bad, it was forced to the back of her mind, in the deepest depths of her brain? Was that the only place to put it without making Lola go insane?

This was weird.

* * *

Lori been driving for hours now. She was making a beeline straight back to her family's campsite. Right now, she assumed that she was in Pennsylvania. She didn't know for sure. Even if she took a few seconds to check, that would mean she would arrive at her destination a few seconds slower.

On the dark, empty highway, something caught the teen's eye. It was hard to see in the dimness of the night, but Lori was able to make out a man. He was leaning against the side railing of the highway. There were spots of fresh rain on his shoulders. He was carrying a cheap overnight bag in one hand. He was thin, nondescript, with a cap pulled down over his eyes.

The man held his hand up, waving at her, as if he was waiting for a lift. He appeared to be a hitchhiker looking for a ride.

Not thinking much about it, Lori drove past him without hesitation.

* * *

"Our pasta this evening is squid ravioli in a lemongrass broth with goat cheese profiteroles, and I also have an arugula Caesar salad."

Lynn could barely pay attention to the waiter as he blabbered on about food. She would _much_ rather be in Lincoln's giant backyard, running freely in its vastness. After all, she had never seen such a large area of perfectly trimmed grass, just _waiting_ for her. Still, her brother had invited her over for the first time in about forty years, so it was only right to be polite and wait until at least dinner was over.

"For entrees this evening, I have swordfish meatloaf with onion marmalade, rare roasted partridge breast in raspberry coulis with a sorrel timbale and grilled free-range rabbit with herbed french fries."

Luna had to force herself not to yawn. She had to cancel her band's upcoming tour of Europe to visit Lincoln, and she didn't want to make a bad impression on him. After all, this was the first time she had seen him since childhood.

"Our pasta tonight is a squid ravioli in a lemongrass broth, and the fish tonight is grilled casper with exotic caviar."

Lori was able to appreciate Lincoln's lifestyle. After all, she was a CEO herself. However, she was never able to reach the same kind of success as her brother. Even if she did, though, she was sure that she wouldn't have abandoned her family.

She looked around the room. All of her siblings, as well as their parents, were there. They were gathered in the same place for the first time in decades. Still, despite this amazing milestone, everybody looked so… unhappy. And, Lori knew why. Lincoln had changed. Success had blinded him to what was _really_ important, causing him to lose touch with not only his family, but reality as well. This was made evident as he casually drank his expensive wine, while everybody else at the table could only stare at their drink, unsure how to grab such an oddly shaped and fancy drinking glass.

Lori stood up. She'd need to talk some sense into her brother, or else the family reunion would do anything _but_ reunite the family. As the oldest, it was her job to set things like this straight, even at age 56.

"Lincoln… can I talk to you in private real quick?".

Lincoln nodded.

Although they only traveled one room over, they had put plenty of space between themselves and the rest of the family due to the sheer size of Lincoln's home.

Lori started the conversation by shaking her head. "Lincoln…" she said. "What's going on?".

This was a very general question, and at first, Lincoln didn't know how to respond.

"What… what do you mean?".

Lori cut straight to the point; she didn't want to beat around the bush any longer than she needed to.

"Why did you cut off contact with us for so long? Why did you abandon us?".

Lincoln knew that he would probably be confronted like this at some point during the family reunion, but not this soon. He inhaled a deep breath.

"I'm so sorry, and I know I can never make it up to you guys. I just got _so_ busy with the business, and—".

"Cut the crap, Lincoln! Even when me and Bobby started our company making custom phone cases, we always made sure to make time for our families, too! And, it's not like we had it easy like you did. We spent countless sleepless nights keeping up on orders. Me and Bobby just didn't get lucky like you and make billions of dollars from drawing comics all day!".

Ouch. Lori wasn't holding back. Still, Lincoln knew that it was only fair after how he had treated his family, letting his success get to his head.

"I know what I did was horrible, Lori, but I'm here to _apologize!_ Now that I'm a lot less busy with work, I'll be able to spend lots more time with you guys. Hell, I'll call you all every day if that's what you want!".

Lori shook her head again. "It's not that easy, Lincoln. The damage is already done. In fact, I think you've been hurt by this more than me."

A prolonged silence took place in the room.

"You used to be… interesting!", she said. "Now, though… you're just a yuppie."

"Yuppies are young," half-joked Lincoln.

"Goodbye, Lincoln," said Lori, not reacting to her brother's joke. She made her way back to the dinner table; she had made her point clear.

Lori was right. Lincoln knew he needed to fix things with his family, or things were bound to only get worse.

* * *

As Lori continued her drive down the long, barren road, she saw him _again!_ The same man who had been looking for a ride to hitchhike on appeared again on the side of the road, exactly as he had been seen before— thin, nondescript, with the same cap and same overnight bag he had sported before.

Lori had promised herself to not stop for _anything_ until she reached her destination. But, this was a special scenario. The teen slowed down the car, not necessarily to pick up the man, but to get a better looked at him. As she put her foot on the break, however, the man started to approach her. His more distinct features became visible. He was old, and his face looked to be worn with age and stress. Above all else, though, he looked… scary. Even though he clearly had no intentions of harming Lori, the teen couldn't help but to feel threatened as he approached. In a rush of fear and adrenaline, she slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, leaving the man far behind in the dust.

The next couple of hours traveling went without a hitch. Although Lori was still a bit disturbed by her encounter with the man, she was able to get a grip on her composure.

It was about four in the morning, and Lori's eyes began to grow heavy with sleepiness. That was, until, she saw him yet again! The same man, with the same clothes, wearing the same hat, holding the same exact overnight bag, was _back!_ Again!

Lori started to speed away from the man, putting as much distance in between her and him as possible. He made her feel very uneasy, and she didn't know exactly why.

Only ten minutes later, when Lori thought for sure that she was done seeing the man, yet again he appeared before her. And, yet again, she quickly drove away. Was she imagining him? Was she going crazy?

Then, she saw him again.

And again.

And again.

By now, Lori had lost track of how many times she had seen the man while driving down the highway. She was understandably frightened at this point, and unsure if she was going insane.

 _I'm not too far from the campsite,_ she thought. _I just have to get back before I go crazy._

* * *

Lisa was hunched over a table, deep within the woods, far away from the rest of her family. Her parents were still out for the police station; they had been gone all day. Her siblings were all still back at the main camp. Luckily for Lisa, they hadn't noticed her slip away in the darkness of the night. She needed to work in peace, and she had a deadline to make.

On her table, barely visible, were hundreds of microscopic computer chips. Although small, these little inventions were currently the most important thing in the little scientist's life. She held a miniature, pointed metal rod in her hand that she used to work on the chips. Because it was nighttime, a light was pointed down at her desk so she could see what she was doing. Now sweating, Lisa ever so carefully made movements to get the chips configured just right.

She'd been doing this for weeks; making microchips, and shipping them off. Not for a profit, but for something greater, something more important.

Now done, Lisa backed away from her work, and brushed the sweat off of her forehead. Behind her, dozens of wooden crates could be seen, each with a label on them. Soon, they would be filled up with the microchips Lisa had been making. Some were marked for Europe, some were marked for other states, but the overwhelming majority of the crates had a label to one specific country on them, clear as day;

Mexico.


	23. A Cold Day in Hell

**This chapter is a bit later than usual because of two other projects that I've been working on. My goal is to have Singled Out completed by the end of the year. So far, whenever I've set a goal, I've been able to meet it, so expect chapter 25 on or before January 1st, 2018.**

 **I said before that there may or may not be an epilogue. There most likely** _ **will**_ **be one, but it won't be anytime soon. I know exactly how I want the story to end, and chapter 25 will be able to stand on its own as the conclusion to the story. Most likely, I will publish a long, single chapter of epilogue exactly one year after the story was first uploaded; August 8th, 2018.**

 **This chapter will make you hate Lola. She'll act like an unfeeling, selfish, evil villain, far beyond redemption. This story has two chapters left after this, and this is the lowest the pageant princess will ever go. I won't spoil anything, but I will say this; everything has its reason for happening. Everything will eventually connect. Once all is revealed, you may find yourself looking back at the story and feeling bad for certain characters that you once hated with a burning passion, and you may also start to hate characters you've loved up until the end. Hang in there.**

* * *

It was late, and still, Lynn Sr. and Rita have had yet to return from their trip to the police station. By now, all of the Loud children were voluntarily back inside of the houseboat. Some of them, mostly the younger ones, had fallen asleep. Still, most of them stayed up, waiting for the return of their parents, too worried to enter slumber at a time like this.

Lincoln looked up at the digital clock on the wall. It was 4 AM. The only times he's stayed up this late was when he was sleeping over with Clyde, but even then, it was rare for the two best friends to be awake at _this_ hour.

Clyde. Ever since the stupid war started, the once inseparable duo had split ways. Even after all that he did to him, right now, Lincoln found it hard to remain angry at Clyde. He was weak, and Lola preyed on his weakness, using it to her advantage. The pageant princess manipulated Lincoln's best friend against him, making him betray him; something Clyde would never do otherwise.

Lola had turned so many people against him. Clyde. Lucy. Not to mention, _all_ of his sisters at one point. Why was she trying to single him out? What was the end goal? Was she doing this for fun? Lincoln was growing angry. He balled his hands up into fists.

The Loud brother looked over at Lola. She was the only younger sister to still be awake, pacing around the floor nervously. Lincoln sighed. She seemed to be taking the absence of the Loud parents harder than most. Was it because she felt guilty? Could Lola even feel guilty about anything? Lincoln wondered what it would be like to be unable to shed a scrap of empathy, living your entire life without being able to feel bad for others. What would that do to somebody's mind? He didn't want Lola to go down that road. Her childhood had been setting her up to become a sociopath— she attended pageants weekly, an event that constantly stacked her up to other children her age. She was not supposed to feel bad for her competition; she was only supposed to do whatever it took to come out on top of them, and that mindset had taken its toll on her over the years. Not to mention, Lola had grown up being used to being able to do anything necessary to get what she wanted. That didn't leave much room for worry about other's feelings.

Lincoln's anger diminished. Lola had caused the most problems for the family, and yet, he knew that she was the most vulnerable out of all of the Louds.

* * *

It sounded a lot worse than it actually was. When the explosion went off, knocking down the previously locked front door from the Santiago hacienda, Ronnie Anne, Bobby, and their mother all made a break for it. The servants that worked around them didn't look up, even when the loud explosion shook the house and the ground rumbled beneath them; they were only drones, after all, programmed to do only what their jobs needed them to do. Reacting to what happened around them was not a part of their job, and therefore was not necessary.

Life at the hacienda was fun. It was nice to be able to swim in a giant pool whenever she wanted, or to be driven around by a servant in a fast car around the many acres of property that her father owned. Still, her life here had just been so _empty_ compared to back in Michigan.

Sprawled out before the three Santiago escapees was the dark, desert night. It was beautiful. Stars dotted the sky, and the moon was full, illuminating the ground beneath it. In science class, Ronnie Anne learned that the moon didn't actually give off light, but rather the sun reflected off of it, lighting up the earth under it. Although she never thought she'd admit it, Ronalda actually _missed_ science class. She missed her life back in the States. She missed her extended family, her friends, her _old life_. Why was all of that suddenly ripped away from her? Ronalda's mother was a hardworking, law-abiding citizen. Why did this happen to them?

It felt like somebody was out to get them, but she didn't know who.

The young Hispanic girl was brought out of her trance when she heard several new pairs of footsteps approaching behind her. She turned around, and much to her horror, saw several drones in hot pursuit of her and her two family members. They ran unnaturally; their arms frailing beside them. Still, they were fast, more so than the Santiagos that were trying to escape them. They were scary.

"Run, _mi niños!_ "

And run they did. Ronnie Anne's legs were pumping faster than she ever thought possible. Even in the cold desert night, she was sweating, but the young hispanic girl did not notice.

In the distance, a long line of bright lights could be seen. It was civilization. Safety.

"We're so close! Keep running!", cried Maria.

Close they were, but it was all in vain. Before she knew it, a very bright light shined in Ronnie Anne's face, forcing her to come to a halt and shield her eyes with her hands. A jeep had pulled up behind them, driven in front of them, and turned around on the desert ground, spraying up pebbles and dirt in the process.

"So, you thought you could blow up my door and run away, huh?". Ronnie Anne, unfortunately, recognized that voice— it was her father. He turned off his jeep lights and hopped down from the vehicle. They were caught.

Ronalda looked at Mr. Santiago as he approached them. She noticed something. The look in his eyes… the unnatural expression he wore… something was off. Just then, in that very moment, a lightbulb went off in the young Santiago girl's head.

With a newfound courage and confidence, without hesitation, Ronnie Anne quickly grabbed a thick, long stick from off of the ground, and, struggling to hold it, started to run at her father.

Maria held her arm out, as if she would be able to stop her daughter despite being meters away from her. "Ronalda, _no!_ "

 _Smash!_

She did it. Ronnie Anne hit her own father as hard as she could in the head. The recoil made her arms shake. She stumbled backward, dropping the stick.

To Maria and Bobby, the strike did not sound like they thought it would. The stick hitting the top of Mr. Santiago's skull sounded harsh, almost metallic. He didn't even yell or recoil in pain. To Ronnie Anne, though, the sound of her strike was exactly what she predicted it would be.

The drones had been fast approaching the three Santiagos, not having ever stopped their chase. When Ronnie Anne struck Mr. Santiago, however, they stopped in their tracks. Some fell to the ground, motionless. Some simply hunched over. It was almost like they had all suddenly been turned off or disabled.

Finally, after standing still for a few seconds subsequently to him being hit, Mr. Santiago fell to the ground. Ronnie Anne stood back up, picked her stick back up, and ran back to her 'father'. She hit him again and again, harder and harder, and eventually, she had destroyed the robot.

* * *

Lincoln's eyes were heavy. Even though his parents were missing, and he was worried sick, he still was just an 11-year-old boy who needed his sleep just as much as anybody else. After trying his best to stay awake for so long, Lincoln finally threw in the towel. He closed his eyes, and allowed himself to relax back on the couch.

Just as slumber was about to overtake him, Lincoln jolted awake. All of his siblings did. Lola had sounded a very loud air horn, immediately waking up everybody in the room.

Lynn gritted her teeth. " _You little…_ "

"Not cool, dude!", said Luna, rubbing her eyes.

Leni screeched. "Is that a _wombat?_ Get it away from me!"

Lola only smiled. Next to her was a projector (where did she even get that?). Before the rest of her siblings could complain about their rude awakening, the pageant princess switched it on, and a black square was projected against the blank back wall of the houseboat.

"I think you guys will want to see this."

She pressed a button on the projector, and a video started to play.

A red 'live' symbol flashed in the bottom left hand of the projector, and immediately, the Loud parents were revealed on the screen. What the Loud siblings saw horrified them; the two were tied up to a chair, blindfolded, and guarded by multiple police officers. The officers wore lifeless expressions in their eyes, almost like they were robots.

" _Mom? Dad?_ ", cried Luan among the shocked gasps of her siblings.

"It's no use, they can't hear us," Lola said coldly. "I have complete control over the police station they're locked up in. Thanks to Lisa, they all have brain chips in their heads that allow me to control all of their actions remotely." Lola smiled. "You all need to comply with me, or else… well…"

She didn't say anything more. She left it open to the imagination what she would command the police officers to do to her parents. Lincoln immediately regretted feeling bad for Lola earlier. She was a monster. The pink nightmare was using her own parent's well-being as leverage to take control of her siblings. Did she not feel a _shred_ of empathy for her own mother and father?

Lola was insane.

"I won't ask much of you guys," continued Lola. "All I want is to give you all a little, uh, _dose_ of something. Let Lisa stick you all with a needle for a couple of seconds, and I'll let Mom and Dad walk free without an argument… do we have a deal?"

Disagreement erupted from the Loud children.

"No way!", cried Lana.

"Yeah, not happening, dude." Luna crossed her arms.

Lynn gritted her teeth. "When I get my hands on you…" The athlete wanted nothing more than to charge at Lola, but one cold look from her leader, Lincoln, told her that it was not a good idea at the moment.

"Yeah, like, no way Lola!" said Leni, stepping back in fear.

"...What's even _in_ the needle?", asked Lincoln.

Lisa walked in from the outside door, holding a syringe. "If you _must_ know, allowing me to do this will let Lola stop you in your tracks whenever she wants. If I put this shot in your neck, the microchips will make their way to your brain. They're voice activated only by Lola, so if she gives a keyword, your motor functions will immediately be cut off. You'll be prevented from moving until Lola says another keyword."

Luna slammed her fist down on the table. "Bogus! No way I'm letting you do that!"

Lana's eyes grew wide, frightened by even just the idea of her twin having control over her. "If she wants to make me stop playing in the mud whenever she wants, she'll be able to actually do it?"

"More than that," said Lisa. The little scientist didn't sound like she cared at all. Did she not care that her older sister was doing little more than enslaving her siblings? Did she not remember the _last_ time she tried that? "If you're prevented from moving whenever Lola wills it, you'll really have no choice but to obey her every command, irrelevant to the fact if you like it or not. You'll be powerless."

"No _way_ I'm agreeing to this!", cried Lynn. She started to charge at Lola, ready to, as Lori put it, turn her into a human pretzel.

As the athlete ran past, Lincoln reached out and grabbed Lynn by the back of her shirt. It took all of his might to keep her from getting away.

"No, Lynn! Lola has our _parents_ in custody, and there's no telling what she's willing to do to them!".

Lynn stopped her resistance (which was fortunate, because Lincoln was just about to lose his grip; Lynn was strong), and looked her brother in the eye. She was just now realizing the severity of the situation. Lynn sat down on the floor, wrapping her arms around her legs and bringing her knees to her chest. "Oh…"

The sisters looked to their leader.

"What do we do, Lincoln? There's no way we're letting this little _monster_ take control of us… right?"

Lincoln gulped. He should have known it; he was certainly no leader. Just once, he was tasked with looking after the family in place of Lori while his parents were out on a date. Of course, he had no remote amount of success with this. Within five minutes, the house turned into utter chaos. He was forced to get Lori and have her fix everything.

Lori was not here. Lincoln was unable to grab his oldest sister and just have her make everything right. The 11-year-old was on his own. And, right now, Lincoln was faced with possibly the most important decision thus far in his life. Should he cave into Lola's demands and allow her to implement brain chips in them all? Or, should he resist, and run the risk of something bad happening to his parents?

"I… I don't know", sniffled Lincoln. His age was starting to show. The immense pressure that he wore on his shoulders was really starting to weigh him down. How did it come to this? Lincoln wanted to curl up into a ball and hide away forever. He wanted this to end. He wanted someone else, _anybody_ but him to fix things and make everything right. No matter what choice he made, people would suffer.

Who else could do it? Leni was the oldest, but well… she was Leni. Luna was the second oldest, but she was a rash person. Sure, she listened to Lincoln, but if she was the leader, the boy knew that his musician sister would order everyone to charge at Lola, no doubt putting their parent's well-being at stake. Luan? Lincoln looked at the comedian. Her look told him that she was as clueless on what to do as he was. Lynn? Like Luna, she was just too rash to keep a level head.

Lincoln blinked to keep back tears. Why did _he_ have to do this? He was going to make everyone mad at him, no matter what.

 _Being the leader sometimes means you have to be the bad guy._

A quote went through his head. Where was that from? Ace Savvy? One of his history textbooks? Lincoln didn't know, but at that moment, the origin did not matter. The important thing was that Lincoln heeded the wise advice.

He wiped his eyes, removing any tears that were there. He needed to be strong.

"Guys…", he said quietly. "I don't think we have a choice here… we might have to let Lola do this. It's what Lori would want… it's what Mom and Dad would want."

Gasps erupted throughout the room. Was Lincoln being serious?

"I'm so sorry. But, it's really our only choice. If it makes you feel any better… I'll go first."

Lola clapped her hands and smiled. "It's about time somebody came to their senses!"

Lisa walked up to Lincoln, clearly indifferent to the entire situation. She twirled a syringe in her hand.

"Stay still, Lincoln," said the junior scientist. "This may pinch a little… well, a lot."

Lincoln didn't care how much it hurt. He was terrified of shots, but right now, what scared him the most was the fact that he and his sisters would soon be under Lola's complete control, and he couldn't do anything about it but to bend his knee to his 6-year-old sister. That fact alone scared him much more than when he saw _The Harvester_ and was frightened for weeks on end, but he didn't show it. He needed to be strong. Lincoln was a leader and needed to act like it.

It hurt. Lincoln could swear that most of his siblings were screaming for him not to let Lisa do it, but every sound became distorted and blurred; he was unable to make out what sounds were real and what was not. His vision grew blurry. His senses were clouded. The area that Lisa inserted the needle in the side of his neck felt like it was on fire, and Lincoln needed to muster up all of the strength that he could to not resist or scream out in pain.

" _Almost done, Lincoln._ "

Lincoln thought he heard Lisa speak, but her voice was muffled and distorted. The boy moved his eyes to look at his sisters. He was seeing double. Was this really what it was like to have microchips slowly take over your brain? After experiencing it firsthand, he made a vow to himself; Lincoln wasn't going to let this happen to the rest of his siblings, that was for sure. The pain was unbearable; he was unable to even move away now if he wanted to. Lincoln would hate himself if he was responsible for any other members of his family going through it, _especially_ the young ones like Lana and Lucy! He didn't know how, but he was going to put an end to this madness, while keeping his parents safe in the process. It seemed impossible, but if anyone could do it, it was him; Lincoln Loud, the man with a plan. He just needed to stop doubting himself.

Speaking of Lucy, Lincoln had not seen her recently. It was not uncommon for him to forget about the little goth girl, as she kept to the shadows and usually made herself scarce. In fact, he hadn't seen her at all recently.

That was, of course, until Lucy appeared out of nowhere and removed the syringe from his neck, pulled Lincoln to the ceiling, dragged him out of the roof's emergency exit, and everything went black.


	24. There's a Ghost in My Head

**The biggest lesson I've learned from writing Singled Out, my first fanfiction, is that a story this large required lots of planning. I had a general idea of how I wanted this fanfiction to go. I knew how it would start, and I knew how I wanted it to end. This is no masterpiece, but it's certainly a big learning experience, and a fun one too. If given the opportunity, I'd go back and chance a lot of things. Still, I'm relatively happy with how this story turned out.**

 **This is the second to last chapter. Things are ramping up big time. There's not much else to say, so, enjoy!**

* * *

Was Lori going insane? She didn't know. All that was for certain was that she saw the same man over and over again on the side of the road. He sported the same coat. He held the same overnight bag. He wore the same blank expression each time Lori passed him.

The teen looked down at her phone. She wondered why it had not given her any new directions for a while. Unfortunately, the screen was completely black with the exception of an empty battery symbol flashing.

Uh-oh. How was she going to find the camp now?

Nervous, Lori pulled into the nearest gas station. At this point, she had enough fuel to make it back to the camp, and she had promised herself that she would not stop for anything, but she was too scared to drive any longer by herself. Besides, she didn't know when she would find another sign of civilization on the lonely road. In her current state, any interaction with another human being was welcomed.

As Lori parked her car in front of a gas pump, an attendant made his way out of the gas station building's door.

"Isn't it a bit late for a young lady like you to be driving?"

Lori stifled a nervous laugh.

"I guess, yeah." She paused. "Have you seen any hitchhikers around lately?"

"Hitchhikers? Here?"

"What's the matter? Don't you ever see any?"

"No. Maybe they get the lift before the turnpike starts. I mean, you know, just before the tollhouse. But then it'd be a mighty long ride. Most cars wouldn't want to pick up a guy for that long a ride. And, you know, this is pretty lonesome country here, mountains and woods. You ain't seen anybody like that, have you?"

Lori didn't want the store employee to think that she was insane.

"Oh, no no no. I was just wondering, that's all."

After Lori filled up Vanzilla and made a bit more light conversation with the gas attendant, she was on her way again. All that she saw for the next ten minutes or so was dark, empty road. To calm her nerves, the teen turned on the radio and listened to her favorite song.

 _Ohhh girl! Ohhh girl!_

Eventually, though, Lori's peaceful driving was once again interrupted. She saw him again. The same clothes, the same overnight bag slung over his shoulder, and the same grim expression.

By now, Lori was sick and tired of driving in fear. It was time to confront the man, and get to the bottom of this situation. If not for the hitchhiker, the teen knew she would be at the campsite for now. She was getting closer. Even though she didn't have her phone charged to use for a GPS, Lori was starting to recognize the area a bit more. It was only a matter of time before she reunited with the family, and she did _not_ want the creepy hitchhiker to slow her down any more than he already had.

She slowed down, and drove closer to the man. Her hands trembled on the steering wheel; she was nervous. Still, she wore a calm expression, and did her best to sound confident.

"Hey! Sir!", she said, driving closer while lowering the driver side window. By now, she was only mere feet away from the man. "What's your deal? Got nothing better to do than stalk me?"

The hitchhiker smiled. His smirk was perverse and offsetting; any fake confidence that Lori had been able to muster instantaneously melted away. He just looked so creepy and dangerous, especially since his hat was pulled down over his eyes. Who _was_ this guy?

Without giving Lori time to react, the stranger lunged at Vanzilla. He was quick— so quick, Lori had no time to drive away. Before she knew it, the man was trying to enter through the window hole like some sort of maniac! He was thin, so this was no problem for him.

Without thinking, Lori punched him in the head. He cried out in pain. His voice… sounded oddly familiar.

Still, the stranger persisted. He continued to squirm and thrash his way into the car. Lori tried pushing him back out, but he overpowered her.

"Get out, you freak!"

In a final attempt to attack the stranger, Lori bent back and gave a swift kick to his face. Because of this, the hitchhiker's cap fell off, revealing his true identity. When Lori saw his face, her mouth fell agape in shock.

It was Lincoln's old tutor.

Hugh.

* * *

"Two phone calls in thirty years."

Lincoln looked up from his dinner; red snapper with violets and pine nuts. He could have sworn his father had just mumbled something about phone calls.

"What did you say, Dad?"

"Two phone calls. In. Thirty. Years.", repeated Lynn Sr., this time a bit louder. Still, his voice was relatively quiet, disappointment evident in his tone.

Over the years, the father of the Loud family's voice has gotten deeper. He was in his mid-seventies now, and it was starting to show both in his appearance and the way he sounded. Still, his voice held the same authority that it had since Lincoln's childhood. Guilt flooded over Lincoln; he had been so busy with his growing company, it had been impossible for the man to find even a few minutes within the month to make phone calls.

"Dad… I'm sorry…"

"If you were sorry, you would have visited or at least called a little more, right?"

After that? Silence. The room grew dense. No one dared speak a word.

After the Loud family had completed their dinner, the silence continued. Eventually, however, Lynn stood up.

"Well, I'm, uh, gonna go now. Thanks for the meal Lincoln, and, uh, happy birthday."

With that, she stood up, starting to make her way to the front door of the mansion.

"Wait! Lynn, don't you want to stay a little longer?"

"Uh, thanks, but no thanks, Link. I have, uh, some stuff to do."

It was an obvious lie; still, Lincoln questioned her no further.

Lola stood up. "Me and Lana should go, too."

Before Lincoln could protest, Lola and Lana were already on their way to the door.

Soon enough, the rest of his siblings dismissed themselves from the table and left Lincoln's house. This was supposed to be his _reunion_ with the family. Why were they all leaving so soon?

The only two that remained were Lincoln's parents.

"Mom, Dad!", said Lincoln, standing up. "You have to forgive me! I'm so sorry for not keeping in contact, I was just so busy, and—"

"No, Lincoln," Lynn Sr. had cut him off. "You can't just go off on your own for three decades and then expect to instantly make up with the family as soon as you retire."

The Loud father sighed. "Lincoln, as much as I'd love to have you back in our lives, it's just too late. You saw how your sisters just got up and left. They came here thinking that you had _changed_ … but you didn't."

How could Lincoln's own father say all of that to him? In his own house! "No, no, no!", said Lincoln, starting to panic. "There has to be a way! I'll take you all out on a private cruise! I'll bring the family to Cordovia! I'll—"

"Lincoln, _no,_ " said Lynn Sr. firmly. "Material things won't help at this point. The family grew up without you in their lives. It's almost like ever since you left, they've been without a brother."

It hurt to admit it to himself, but Lincoln knew his father was right. He messed up. Bad. He allowed greed to cloud his judgment. He had every material object that he could ever want, and yet, he was still not happy. He wanted to be loved by his family. He wanted to erase all of his mistakes.

Lincoln was silent. His parents got up to leave, but he stayed still, looking forward and not uttering a word. Once they closed the door behind them, Lincoln called for Markus to bring him a handkerchief.

* * *

It happened so fast. Lucy came out of nowhere and pulled Lincoln up and out of the emergency exit on the roof before everything went black. When the white-haired boy awoke, he looked around to find himself in the woods. Lincoln tried standing up, but immediately felt a sharp pain race throughout his entire body, causing him to yelp and fall back to the ground.

"You'll be sore for a while, Lincoln."

Lucy. Lincoln could recognize his little sister of three years' voice easily. She spoke in her usual monotone voice, making it very easy for Lincoln to distinguish her. Although his neck was sore, the boy still turned his head in the direction that he heard the voice coming from. Lincoln saw that Lucy was next to him, kneeling down. It appeared as if she had been with him for a while.

The last time Lincoln encountered the little goth girl, they weren't exactly on good terms. Although she seemed to feel sorry about it, Lucy had betrayed him. If not for that, the war would probably be over by this point. Lincoln wouldn't feel sore. Lola wouldn't be trying to implant brain chips in the family. And, most importantly, Lincoln's parents would not be held hostage at the moment.

Lincoln's first reaction was anger. What reason could Lucy possibly have for making the family suffer as much as she had? Was there anything at all could justify such an act?

Lincoln's second reaction, however, was empathy. He knew that Lucy would never do something so evil unless there was a gun pointed to her head. Even then, she would put up resistance. Besides, she saved him (for the time being) from having brain chips pumped into their necks.

That's right. The brain chips! The rest of their siblings were still alone and vulnerable back in the houseboat. Lincoln knew that time was not a luxury that he had at the moment. In fact, Lola and Lisa could already be getting ready to poison the rest of the Loud sisters.

Upon realizing this, Lincoln attempted to spring up from the ground and run. He didn't know where he was going; he would play it by ear. At the moment, only one thing mattered to him, and that was saving the family.

The keyword was try. As soon as he made an effort to get up, Lincoln went forward but quickly faltered, and came crashing back the ground face first. He was in far too much much pain to move at the moment.

"Lincoln!", cried Lucy, rushing over to him. She grabbed her brother and forced him upright, leaning him against a tree. "You can't move!", she scolded him. "You're too sore for that right now."

"Our sisters are about to be brain chipped by Lola!", snapped Lincoln. "We need to do something!".

Lucy could only shake her head. "We're powerless to do anything right now. In case you forgot, Lola's holding our parents hostage, and if we barge in, she probably won't hesitate to use them like the pawns she sees them as."

Lincoln hated what Lucy had just said, but he knew that she was right. Lola was acting like a madman.

The white-haired boy sighed. Usually, in a situation like this, he'd make up some harebrained scheme to resolve the issue at hand. Now, though, he kept himself from doing so. His hijinks had only caused trouble so far in the war. No matter what he tried to do to end the fighting, he only made things worse.

"Lucy…" he said. After days of not talking to one another, Lincoln had a few questions for his 8-year-old sister. "Why did you betray me? We were _so_ close to ending the war together.

"Lincoln… I'm so sorry. There's no excuse for betraying you. If I just left you alone that day, we wouldn't be in this mess… there would be no brain chips… mom and dad would be safe…"

"So why did you do it?" Lincoln's question was short and direct. He still wanted an answer.

Lucy knew that it was time for her to come clean. Lola was furious with her for backstabbing her during the most important part of the pageant princess' family takeover, so her secret would probably be leaked sooner or later anyway. It might as well come straight from Lucy herself. Who knows what kind of exaggeration Lola would add?

Besides… Lincoln deserved the truth.

* * *

Lisa paced the houseboat living room floor in anger and frustration.

"You _should_ have been more cautious," she snapped at Lola. "Now, there's a big dent in our plan."

"How was I supposed to know Little-Miss-Spooky would go rogue?", shot back the pageant princess.

While the two argued, the remaining Loud sisters could do nothing but watch. There was a gun held to their head; if they angered Lola, there was no telling what the pink nightmare would do to Lynn Sr. and Rita. The best they could do for now was to keep their mouths shut and look on.

Lisa crossed her arms and ceased her pacing. "Well, there's no time to waste. We might as well get the rest of these microchips in before we run into yet _another_ interruption."

Lynn was up next. Lisa figured that it was safest to chip her the next; after all, she was the strongest, and could put an end to Lola and Lisa's scheme if she decided to attack.

"Get ready, Lynn."

Before Lisa could even prepare her needle, an extremely loud knock was heard on the houseboat door. Of course, she had made sure to lock it so that nobody from the outside would be able to get in easily.

"Lucy!", yelled Lola, figuring that her oldest sister of two years was the one knocking. After all, Lincoln would be in too much pain to do so. "Don't you remember that I have Mom and Dad in my hands? Step fifty feet away from the boat right now, _or else!_ "

"What the hell are you talking about, Lola? Let me in!"

That voice was not Lucy's. Instead of a monotone, it sounded authoritarian and older. Could it be…?

"That's it! I'm breaking in!"

Lori kicked down the door. She saw Lisa holding a needle, the majority of her sisters sweating and fearful beyond belief, and, worse of all, her parents tied up and surrounded by police on a projector screen.

" _What…_ Lola, whatever you're doing in here is going to come to an end. _Now._ "


	25. Lucifer

**This is it. You won't like it.**

* * *

Lynn Sr. was a husband, father, and friend to pretty much anybody who got to know him.

What he was not, however, was a criminal. Lori knew this to be a fact. The Loud father never stole, littered, or even disobeyed the rules of the road— in fact, he read his driving handbook each night before bed for entertainment.

So why, then, did Lori see him tied up at the police station? Was that even _legal_ for the cops to do?

No, it wasn't. Lola had something to do with this— her evil, smug smirk gave that away.

"Lola, whatever you're doing in here is going to come to an end. _Now._ " Lori's demand was sharp and clear. Her tone was authoritative and direct.

Lola's smile widened.

"Oh, dear sister," said the pink nightmare, walking slowly over to Lori. Did she have a death wish? Why was she coming closer? Lori was just about ready to turn her little sister into a human pretzel if she didn't explain what was going on in the next couple of seconds. "What you see on that screen is simply my greatest work yet. Just listen closely to my orders, or I'll command the nice policemen to, well, _rough up_ mother and father a little bit. They're under my control, after a—"

Lola's eyes seemed to bulge out as Lori grabbed her neck. "You _what?_ ", hissed Bobby's girlfriend. Lola had not even told her about the brain chips yet, and Lori was already seething with rage; she didn't like the fact that Lola seemed to not care at all about their parent's wellbeing, and was willing to use it as a bargaining chip.

The rest of the Loud sisters, save for Lisa and Lucy, gasped as they saw Lori grab Lola. She, unlike them, was not caving in to Lola's demands. Lori held her 6-year-old sister out in front of her effortlessly, staring into her eyes. " _Answer me!_ ", she hissed.

The pageant powerhouse remained calm, even when she was being held up in the air like a bag of potatoes. Lori was scary; if she was real angry, she was able to strike fear into the hearts of her siblings, nearly making their faces turn white. Her voice boomed with anger, so much so, that the sisters on the sideline stepped back in fear, despite the fact that Lola was the only person that Lori's wrath was being directed at.

"Brain chips, Lori, _brain chips!_ " squealed Lola, laughing. God, has she gone mad? "I had Lisa whip up a few batches of them. I sent a good friend over to the police station to slip them in the friendly cops, and, now, they're able to be controlled remotely like a toy! Isn't it _beautiful_ , Lori?"

Lola's voice was dripping, no, _oozing_ with a tone of insanity. Her words were poison. She was only six year old, but she sounded like a psychopath capable of mass murder without batting an eye. Even Lisa, standing a few feet away from the kerfuffle, looked concerned with the tone of Lola's voice.

Lori tightened her grip on the pink nightmare's shoulders, and shook her back and forth in the air. " _Brain chips?_ Is this a _joke?_ Lola, explain yourself!"

And she did. Lori put the pageant princess down while she told her eldest sisters, as well as everybody in the room, about everything she had done. Lola explained that Hugh, Lincoln's old tutor, traveled the world and went to foreign countries, including Mexico. Seeing an opportunity, Lola asked Lisa to whip up a batch of brain chips to put in him. She did, and Hugh was soon under their control after Lola had spiked his drink with the microchips the day he was visiting the Loud residence. Lola sent her new puppet on a trip to Mexico, where he implemented another drone; the Santiago family's long lost father.

Lisa, using her funds from winning her Junior Nobel prize, had a hacienda built in the desert on the outside of Mexico City. After a couple of months, construction was complete, and it was time for the next phase of the plan; getting the Santiagos there. With brain chips, this part was easy. Using Hugh, Lola was able to send him to bug the minds of several Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, and using them, was able to get the Santiagos down to Mexico despite the fact that they were fully legal and hard working citizens. With them out of the picture, Lola knew that Lori would have no choice but to fully focus on the war.

Of course, this didn't go according to plan at all, as was evidenced by the fact that Lori had just been strangling Lola a few seconds ago. The pink nightmare had only gone through the lengths that she had because Lori was probably the most important person to have on her side of the war; she was the oldest, and the others looked up to and respected her. All of that for nothing, huh?

For the most part, Lori had stood still while Lola told her story, absorbing what she had said. Miraculously, the eldest Loud sibling did not cave in to her instincts and attack Lola; instead, she listened patiently to the entire speech.

Of course, when the speech was _over_ , conditions did not remain the same. Fuming with pure, primal anger, Lori reached out to grab the pageant princess again.

However, Lola had made preparations for this. Two, small square portions of the houseboat floor opened, and what appeared to be small, metallic arms reached out from the ground and grabbed Lori's feet, stopping her in place. She flailed her arms out at Lola, but the 6-year-old was standing just far enough away to be safe from Lori's grasp.

"Well, _it looks like I win._ "

Lola's words were quiet but sharp. Unlike before, she wasn't smiling anymore, but nor was she frowning. Her face just looked… empty.

"Now, all of you, _including_ dear Lori, are going to get a free check-up by doctor Lisa consisting of a shot chock full of small, friendly brain chips."

No one resisted; they saw what happened to Lori. It was no use.

"Let's start with our eldest!"

Lisa produced her syringe from her side pocket, and approached Lori, who was still struggling to break free.

All hope was lost.

At least, that's what everybody thought. Just as Lisa was reaching up to Lori's neck, the door slammed open, and a white-haired boy, followed by a black-haired girl, rushed into the room.

Lincoln stumbled, still in great pain from the shot, but quickly ran over to Lola, who was caught off guard. He pounced on her, bringing her to the ground. Lucy ran over to Lisa, who watched Lola in horror, slapping the needle from out of her hand.

It happened so fast. "Lincoln, you ruined _everything!_ " cried Lola, struggling under her brother's weight.

Blinded by rage, Lincoln smashed Lola and her big, stupid head into the ground as hard as he could. He did this over and over and over again, not paying attention to the shrieks of pain that the 6-year-old was making in the process.

Her vision went blurry. She started to taste nothing but blood. Lola was certainly not having a good time.

"Lincoln, stop!" cried one of his sisters, but he didn't care. He just smash, smash, smashed Lola again and again without a care in the world of what he was doing. She had caused too much pain. She had this coming to her.

Miraculously, and without any warning, Lola grabbed her own face and ripped it off before Lincoln could bash her skull against the floor another time.

Lincoln's eyes bulged; he jumped backward in fear of what he saw.

Satan himself clawed his way out of Lola's dress, growing large as he exited the pageant princess' skin.

" _Jesus ch—!_ " That's all Lincoln could say before the devil, now taking up half of the room, swiped at him, causing the white-haired boy to rapidly fly backward in the air across the room. He landed in the wall, making a large dent, before falling to the floor, every bone in his body now broken. The sheer force of Satan's strike was powerful beyond measure.

"I'm Satan, _hahaha!_ " cried the red, giant creature that had previously been dressed up as a pageant-loving 6-year-old. "Now, you will _all_ die!"

Before he could do anything else, Lucy sprang into action, a large book tucked tightly under her arm. She opened the novel, quickly thumbed through the pages, and pointed her finger at Lucifer.

" _Qwerty!_ ", she cried, an electric bolt shooting out from the tip of her finger and electrocuting Satan.

"No! NO! _NO!_ ", cried the devil, shrinking and screaming in the process.

Before he knew it, the devil was no more; where he once stood, now only air occupied. Lincoln saw his sisters running and hugging Lucy. The devil was dead. Lola, or whatever ruse she had been, was now gone too, and forever.

So, _that_ was Lucy's secret! Lola was able to force Lucy to betray Lincoln by holding the fact that she was secretly a spellcaster over her head.

He smiled before passing out.

* * *

Lincoln looked at the ocean, sprawled out so peacefully in front of him. He had awoken minutes ago, but was told that he was passed out for hours. When he awoke, he found his mother and father safe and sound, returned from the police station. Moreover, Lisa freed everyone who had a brain chip implemented in them. She was not punished due to the fact that Lola had forced her to do what she had done.

The healing process would take a long time. He'd have to get back on good terms with Clyde. He'd have to help Ronnie Anne and the rest of the Santiagos settle back into their old lives. He'd have to help his sisters through the loss of Lola.

For now, though, Lincoln simply watched the waves crash on to the shore.


	26. A True Tragedy

Do you want to know how the story was _supposed_ to end? How I had I _planned_ this thing to play out?

Well, one day, Lola would realize that she and her sisters are often unfair to Lincoln. Sure, they haven't been _monsters_ , but in the show, they tend to single him out at times (No Such Luck, Brawl in the Family, etcetera). Lola, seeing this, felt bad. Lincoln had always been nice to her—playing the butler in her tea parties, teaching her to read—and she didn't like that he was sometimes treated by her and the rest of her sisters poorly.

So, she devised a plan. Lola would wait until Lincoln messed up somehow and got all of his sisters angry at him for a while. Not long after, he broke the model house, and this was her opportunity to strike. She called a sister meeting and manipulated the Loud girls into being angry at Lincoln, not just for the model house, but for all of the other times he messed up, too. She proposed that she and the rest of her sisters go to 'war' with Lincoln. Many are reluctant, but, eventually, they decide to go through with Lola's plan.

After this, the war goes on. The sisters make an initial attack, causing Lincoln to realize the situation that he is in and retaliate. Over time, some sisters leave Lola's team. Some join Lincoln's. Some become neutral. There was even a point where I planned for a third team to come into the fold, whose purpose was to try to stop the war altogether.

The story was supposed to come to a breathtaking conclusion—one final battle to end it all. In the final chapters, Lincoln, and his second in command, Lisa (yes, Lisa was supposed to eventually join up with Lincoln) would be sitting in their control room in her bunker, directing everybody that was on their side, talking through microphones that go into earbuds of their teammates. The battle would be fought all over Royal Woods, and the three teams would not only consist of Louds, but also of various other characters from the show. Eventually, when things go sour (people on Lola's team were found to be using frozen solid paintballs, and even beating people down until they were unconscious), Lincoln throws off his cape and hat (which Leni had stitched him earlier, there's a whole subplot there that I won't go into here) and runs into battle himself in a desperate attempt to stop it.

Lincoln surprises Lola by capturing her in the park located in the center of town. As Lola's team watches on, Lincoln walks up behind her and picks her up by her arms. She throws a tantrum, crying and flailing herself, although to no avail. Lincoln brings her all the way home and puts her to bed.

At this point, everyone realizes that Lola was wrong. They become very angry with her and even at themselves for being roped so easily into fighting Lincoln by a bratty 6-year-old.

From this point on, Lincoln is never once again singled out in the family. The ending was going to be bittersweet. Lola would be the center of hatred for causing the war. In turn, _she_ becomes singled out among her family.

Months later, when Lola and Lincoln are alone, he asks solemnly, _Why did you do it?_

She smiles, and this surprises Lincoln. A tear comes to her eye, and she says that she was sick of how he was treated by the rest of his sisters. The whole war went according to plan—sure, she didn't plan every single part of it in advance, that would be impossible—but the end result was what she desired. Lincoln was no longer singled out… that was shifted onto Lola.

And it stayed that way.

Singled Out was my first story. I uploaded chapter 1 on August 8th, 2017, exactly one year ago today. I thought that on its anniversary, it would be appropriate to share the real ending and why it ended up the way it did.

So, why _did_ it end the silly way that it did? Why didn't I write it as I originally planned?

In short, the story got out of hand. This was due mainly to poor planning and a lack of vision for the later chapters, mistakes on my part. It was my first story, and I admittedly had no idea what I was doing.

I considered multiple times deleting it and starting fresh. I never actually followed through with this idea, though, in fear of an angry reaction from the readers. After all, who would want a story that they've been invested in to suddenly start over, forcing them to reread the beginning parts all over again and then wait a long time for the story to process past the point it had been at before?

Ever since Singled Out, I've been very fearful of a story going off the tracks again. Long time readers of mine might remember a fic I once had on my profile called Where is He? It was a story about Lincoln disappearing (unoriginal, I know, but I had at least went about it in a unique way). I had just uploaded two chapters of it, and it had gotten over eighty favorites and lots of reviews. However, I became very fearful over the fact that I did not have a fully thought out vision for how I wanted it to end. Seeing that it was becoming much more popular than I anticipated, I deleted it before it was too late. I've deleted a number of stories since then (Lunatic Leni, Loved Despite of Great Faults, and a few others), and all for the same reason: I was scared of not having a clear vision and messing up like I had in Singled Out. Readers of mine know this, too: outside of Singled Out, I've _never_ finished a story.

Yeah, that's right.

Look at my profile right now if you don't believe me. Other than for Singled Out, not once have I given a conclusion to any of my fanfictions. On top of deleting stories, I haven't ended any, either. The closest I've gotten to ending one since Singled Out is '10 Years Later', which I've actively writing and have high hopes for. It's a unique story, most of it being told in past tense—but that's not what I'm here to talk about right now.

Why have I said all of this? Well, I wanted to give you some perspective on why Singled Out ended up the way it did. It's not a problem isolated to this fanfiction alone—Singled Out went haywire because of my inability as an author to plan out stories. I was running out of ideas of things to have happen in the story, and I didn't feel I was ready to yet end it, so the off the wall stuff like Albert's motorcycle accident and the deportation of the Santiagos happened. That's really it.

By this point, the story was dead to me. Giving it the good ending that I had planned—the bittersweet one where Lola becomes the one that is singled out in the family—would be inappropriate. The story was bad, and it deserved a bad ending. Maybe, one day in the future, if I actually did decide to rewrite the story (and I eventually _did_ —it's the story called Singled Out! on my profile, which I'll be working on most likely after I'm through with 10 Years Later), then I would give it the real ending, or at least something close to it, depending on how the events of the rewrite differed from the original.

That was my thought process. Call me wrong, call me a bad author, but after thinking extensively about how to handle the hot mess I had on my hands, that was the decision I made at the time.

If given the opportunity to go back in time and make a different choice, would have I? I don't know.

I'm getting better, though. I put my pen to paper a lot since I first uploaded to the site a year ago, and I think I've come a long way since. Look at the first chapter of Singled Out, and then look at the most recent chapter of my most recent story. There's a big difference. I have faith in myself that I'll be able to complete my current project, and, hell, after that, I'll probably even be able to go back and finish some old projects.

I am on a great adventure.


End file.
